“May the Lord make you overflow with love for one another and for all, even as our love does for you. May He strengthen your hearts…At the coming of our Lord Jesus…” — Thes. 3:12-13

Toy collections, food drives, charity bazaars — all common activities in communities and parishes during the Christmas season. And they are good. They help fulfill Jesus’ mandate to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

However, this command of Jesus is subordinate to the one preceding it — “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.”

Love of neighbor flows from love of God, and love of God is a prerequisite for a charitable action. There is a profound difference between a humanitarian act and an act of charity.

A humanitarian action, admirable as it may be, is limited in potential. Rooted in human compassion and accomplished through human incentive, it goes only as far as the individual’s generosity and goodwill carry it. Read the rest…