Love and Charity

Think of all the different ways we use the word 'love'. 'Love' describes a whole spectrum of different relationships. I love my friends, and I love my child, and I love my parents, and I love my wife. These are four very different relationships, but we use the word 'love' to describe all of them. We even talk about love outside of human relationships. Some people love golf, others love hamburgers, still others love democracy, and some people love Hawaii. How can one word, 'love,' be used for all these different things?

In Greek, there are at least four kinds of love. Φιλία (filia) is the love that a person has for their friends. This is the kind of love that makes people feel like they're part of a team. Στοργή (storgi) is a kind of doting, affectionate love. This is the kind of love that a mother often has for her child. Έρος (eros) is erotic, sexual love. This kind of love is an expression of our desire for another person. But the highest, the purest form of love is the love that God has for his creation. This kind of love is described by the word αγάπη (agapi).

Agapi is also the kind of love that God has called us to have for all humankind. We are called to imitate God's agapi by loving every person we come across with the selfless care that God has for us. But what is agapi love? How can we practice it. Curiously enough, if you look in the King James Version of the Bible (KJV), you'll see that the word agapi is always translated with the word 'charity.' What this suggests to me is that we have today an impoverished idea of what charity means. We think of charity as an obligation that we have to make financial contributions each year to certain 'charitable organizations.' But charity is much more than that; it is the highest form of love.

In today's Gospel reading, the Rich Man finds himself condemned, not because of how he felt about the poor man Lazarus who lay at his gates. He is condemned because of something far more basic than his feelings: he failed to help Lazarus. He failed to reach out to Lazarus and try his best to meet the needs of this suffering person who God had put in his path. He failed, in other words, to show agapi to Lazarus. Agapi love is a selfless love that is willing to go out of its way in order to care for the other, no matter how uncomfortable that other person might make us.

As you go throughout your day and your week, look for the opportunities that God is giving you to show love to others. Look for the suffering that you can do something about. Then, do not fail to respond to that suffering by reaching out with the selfless care of God's agapi love. When God knocks at the door of your heart, don't hesitate to open to him. Then, as you show love to others, you will also receive it in God's Kingdom.