Clothe Yourselves With the Bond of Charity

On this Memorial Day weekend I have been reflecting of the powerful story of Louis Zamperini, whose story is told in the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the Olympic runner whose WWII plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean. He survived an incredible 47 days on a raft in the ocean, catching birds to each raw and drinking whatever rain they could catch from the sky. When he finally reached an island, he was captured by the Japanese and ultimately ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Japan. The treatment he received there was unimaginably cruel, and one guard in particular named Watanabe tortured him in unbelievably inhumane ways. The guard physically tormented Zamperini day after day, month after month, seeking to destroy his humanity completely. But he did not break the American soldier, and Zamperini miraculously survived his two years as a prisoner of war and eventually made it home. Zamperini struggled immensely for several years, filled with anger for the guard who had tormented him. He had nightmares reliving the awful experiences and he vowed he would return to Japan and seek revenge.

The hatred and bitterness nearly ruined his life, but then he found Jesus Christ and was converted to Him. He let go of all of his anger and devoted his life to serving Christ and helping troubled youth. Incredibly, he ultimately was able to forgive all of his captors and returned to Japan and verbally offered his forgiveness to those he could find. But he did not find Watanabe on that trip and was told he was probably dead. Many years later Zamperini found out that Watanabe was in fact still alive, and as he went to Japan to carry the Olympic torch in 1998 he sought to meet up with him. The former guard refused, but Zamperini wrote him this letter: “As a result of my prisoner of war experience under your unwarranted and unreasonable punishment, my post war life became a nightmare. It was not so much due to the pain and suffering, as it was the tension of stress of humiliation that caused me to hate with a vengeance. Under your discipline my rights not only as a prisoner of war but also as a human being were stripped from me. It was a struggle to maintain enough dignity and hope to live until the war’s end. The post-war nightmares caused my life to crumble. But thanks to a confrontation with God, through the evangelist Billy Graham, I committed my life to Christ. Love replaced the hate I had for you. Christ said, ‘Forgive your enemies, and pray for them.’ As you probably know, I returned to Japan in 1952 and was graciously allowed to address all the Japanese war criminals at Sugamo prison. I asked then about you and was told that you probably had committed harikiri, which I was sad to hear. At that moment, like the others, I also forgave you and now would hope that you would also become a Christian.” What an incredible show of love and forgiveness! Surely only through the grace of Jesus Christ could Zamperini let go of the hatred and bitterness and forgive this man who had caused him so much misery.

Zamperini’s story shows us that it is possible for us to develop charity, the pure love of Christ, even when all reason would suggest that such would not be possible. Ultimately we know that charity is a gift from God that we must seek from Him—no amount of effort alone will bring us this gift which according to Paul is “the greatest” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Mormon spoke of two ways that we can receive charity. First, he invited us to pray with all our hearts for this gift: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ” (Moroni 7:48). Second, he taught that charity is bestowed upon us through the Holy Ghost as we live the principles of the gospel: “And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins; And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love.” The Comforter is what fills us with that perfect love. He then emphasized again the importance of prayer in obtaining this gift: “which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come” (Moroni 8:25-26). We obtain charity through a gift from the Holy Ghost and that love will endure in us as we seek it through prayer.

The Savior gave an interesting instruction about charity in the Olive Leaf revelation in 1832. He said this: “And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:125). Later he used similar language in some instruction to Robert D. Foster: “And let him repent of all his folly, and clothe himself with charity; and cease to do evil” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:116). This idea is similar to what Paul said to the Colossians: “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14). I love that idea that we put on charity to cover us, that charity is like clothing in that it becomes part of our very being. Each morning as we prepare for the day we should remember to symobolically put on charity and frame all our actions with love. As we pray with all our hearts to be filled with His love the Holy Ghost can help us to love even in the hardest situations.