5 Minute Theology: The Virtue of Charity

The theological virtue of charity, which we also call love, is the highest of all, as

it is the essence of God's friendship with us.

While the virtues of faith and hope have God the first truth, and God as merciful, omnipotent

and faithful as their objects, the object of the virtue of charity is God's goodness

and loveability, for God is love, as St. John says.

It is the grace by which we love God for His own sake and our neighbor for God's sake.

By loving God for His own sake, we mean we love Him because He is the most lovable

of all things, if we can put it like that, and not because of mere duty or the desire

for good things for ourselves, even our desire for salvation.

And loving our neighbor for God's sake means loving them not out of any mere natural

affection or friendship, but because God loves them, and they are reflections of God and

share in His goodness.

We is also infinitely above the natural love one might acquire for the creator as known

by reason.

By the virtue of charity, we are elevated to love God as He is in Himself, in all the fullness

which He has revealed to us.

We are unable to do what we are totally incapable of doing naturally, loving, with the love

that surpasses our power, an object which infinitely exceeds our natural knowledge.

This is why St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans that, the charity of God is poured

forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can be raised to the dignity of being able to

call God our friend and father.

It is higher than faith and hope also in the sense that, as St. Paul says, neither faith

nor hope will remain in heaven, but only charity, and charity is required to enliven the other

virtues, and without charity they are dead.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul says that you could give away all your

goods and even your life, but if this is done without supernatural charity, it is completely

empty and pointless.

Being done without charity has any merit.

Two external actions could look identical, but the one done with charity is infinitely

greater than the one done out of natural duty or affection, and it is meritorious where

the latter is not.

To give food to the poor out of a sense of duty or pity or even natural love, still falls

infinitely short of giving food to the poor out of divine charity, out of love for the

other as one who shares in God's goodness, reflects His image, and is created for eternal

be attitude.

The extent to which we are commanded to love God does not have any upper limit.

Of course by sinning we are shown to be deficient in our charity, and when we sin gravely we

lose charity and the entire life of grace in our soul, which is restored in the sacrament

of penance.

So there is a lower limit below which we can objectively say that we do not love God.

But we can always love God more because He is infinitely lovable.

We are commanded to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

But who of us could say that they had reached that point in their earthly life?

And even if we were to love God with all the power we think we have, God is always

capable of expanding us further to receive more grace and charity.

Even in heaven where the saints love God with all their capacity, they still do not love

God as much as He ought to be loved, because the love due to Him is infinite.

St. Thomas Aquinas divides our growth and charity into three general stages.

The first, the beginning of our conversion, is when we resolve to avoid all grave sin

and fight hard against temptation.

The second, when we are generally free from the tendency toward mortal sin, we strive

to avoid even venial sins and imperfections.

And the third, in which we are always united to God by charity and always growing in it

by frequent acts of charity, both interior and exterior.

To love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength can become in our minds a mere

trite saying, since we hear it so much.

But consider what it actually means.

The love of God should encompass and influence everything in us, from our reason to our will,

to even our emotions and affections and down to our bodily senses.

But how often do we invoke God's aid during the day when we act, or when we are at leisure,

or when troubled, or joyful?

Charity should imbue everything we think, say, and do.

While we contend to forget to make explicit acts of charity when caught up in the busyness

of the day, we should try to set aside times to dedicate everything we do to God, at least

in making a morning offering when we wake up, offering all the day's prayers, works,

joys, and sorrows to Him.

We love our neighbor as ourselves as something else more worthy of contemplation.

You work so hard to not only survive, but thrive and succeed in life, and hopefully

to do everything necessary for salvation.

God commands us to desire these things as much for our neighbor as we do for ourselves.

How many of us can say that we have ever had that desire, really and deeply, for our

neighbor, that we want His flourishing and salvation as much as our own?

But that is what we are commanded and enabled to do with divine charity.

Again, all of these things infinitely surpass our capabilities, so it shouldn't be a cause

of sorrow or despair that we can't stir up these feelings in our souls, because the power

doesn't come from us.

We need only ask, and God will gradually and continually fill us with this most important

virtue.

We can be sure that He is doing so if we frequent the sacraments, and often receive the

Eucharist not only worthily, but with great devotion, because it is called the sacrament

of charity, since it contains God Himself, who is love.