[5] Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers, especially for strangers; [6] they have testified to your love before the church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. [7] For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are accepting nothing from the pagans. [8] Therefore, we ought to support such persons, so that we may be co-workers in the truth.
(CCC 1826) "If I… have not charity," says the Apostle, "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even virtue, "if I… have not charity, I gain nothing" (1 Cor 13:1-4). Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, charity abide, these three. But the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor 13:13). (CCC 1827) The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which "binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14); it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.
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