Charity
(1) Assistance with money or time for a person or cause which lies outside the range of the giver’s reciprocal obligations; givers and receivers do not generally know each other’s names; no reciprocal response is expected.
(2) Warm manners. Manners on their own, for all their virtues, can sometimes suggest coldness and distance; charity cures this. It means, for instance, the manners to hold back from exploiting an advantage (e.g., in an argument); to suppose that the other person may have a case which works for her, though you do not agree; to care for a person, despite being, for the moment, angry, bored, or exhausted; to be supportive to a person driven by an inspiration which may be more heroic than rational; to be alert to friends’ needs, and to help them.
“Charity”, the word, is needed because it does something love cannot do: you can decide to be charitable, but whether you can decide to love someone is open to question. Love is what you feel. Charity is what you do.
Related entries:
Caritas, Compassion, Encounter, Gifts, Good Faith.
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