What then is charity?
Charity is a virtue which raises us to a life of intimacy with God for His own sake, in so far as He is His own happiness and has deigned to wish to communicate His happiness to us (XXIII. 1).
What does this life of intimacy with God to which the virtue of charity raises us imply in us?
This life of intimacy with God implies two things in us: first of all a participation of the divine nature which divinizes our nature and elevates us above every natural order (whether human or angelic) to the order which is proper to God, making us gods and members of His family; secondly, it implies in us principles of activity proportionate to this divine existence which enable us to act as true children of God even as God Himself acts -- knowing Him as He knows Himself, loving Him as He loves Himself, and enabling us to enjoy Him as He enjoys Himself (XXIII. 2).
Are these two things indissolubly connected with the presence of charity in the soul?
Yes, and charity itself is their consummation or perfection.
Is it then true always that whoever has charity has also sanctifying grace together with the virtues and the gifts?
Yes, of necessity he must have all these (XXIII. 7).
Is charity the queen of all the virtues?
Yes, charity is the queen of all the virtues (XXIII. 6).
Why is charity the queen of all the virtues?
Because charity rules them all and causes them to act with the view of possessing God, who is the proper object of charity (XXIII. 6).
How does charity cleave and unite itself to God, its proper object?
It is by love that charity cleaves and unites itself to God (XXVII.).
In what precisely consist this cleaving and union of charity to God, its proper object?
It consists in this, that man by charity desires for God the Infinite Good which is God Himself, and for himself he desires the same good, which is God, precisely as constituting his own happiness (XXV., XXVII.).
Next - The Catechism of the Summa - SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - VIII. OF CHARITY AND ITS NATURE; OF ITS PRINCIPAL ACT AND THE FORMULA OF THIS ACT (B)
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