AC 4956 - The Essence of Charity

AC  4956

The essence of charity toward the neighbor
is the affection of good and truth,
and the acknowledgment of self
as being evil and false;
indeed, the neighbor is good and truth itself,
and to be affected by these is to have charity.

The opposite to the neighbor is evil and falsity,
which are held in aversion by one who has charity.
He therefore who has charity toward the neighbor
is affected by good and truth,
because they are from the Lord,
and holds in aversion what is evil and what is false
because these are from self;
and when he does this,
he is in humiliation from self-acknowledgment,
and when he is in humiliation,
he is in a state of reception
of good and truth from the Lord.

These are the characteristics of charity
which in the internal sense are involved
in these words of the Lord:

"I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat;
I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink;
I was a stranger, and you gathered Me;
naked, and you clothed Me;
I was sick, and you visited Me;
I was in prison, and you came unto Me."
(Matthew 25:35-36)

That these words involve such things,
no one can know except from the internal sense.
The ancients, who had the doctrinals of charity,
knew these things;
but at this day they appear so remote
that everyone will wonder at its being said
that these things are within.
Moreover, the angels who are with a person
perceive these words no otherwise,
for by the "hungry" they perceive those
who from affection desire good;
by the "thirsty," those who from affection desire truth;
by a "stranger," those who are willing to be instructed;
by the "naked," those who acknowledge
that there is nothing of good and of truth in themselves;
by the "sick," those who acknowledge
that in themselves there is nothing but evil;
and by the "bound," or those who are "in prison,"
those who acknowledge
that in themselves there is nothing but falsity.
If these things are reduced into one meaning,
they mean what has been stated just above.