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Caritas

“Love, in this sense of an unlimited loving-kindness towards all others, is held to be the ultimate perfection of the human spirit, because it is said to both glorify and reflect the nature of God. In its most extreme form such love can be self-sacrificial. Confusion can arise from the multiple meanings of the English word “love.” The love that is caritas is distinguished by its origin, being Divinely infused into the soul, and by its residing in the will rather than emotions, regardless of what emotions it stirs up. This love is necessary for salvation, and with it no one can be lost.”

1 Corinthians
Chapter 13

1 

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.

2 

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 

If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated,

5 

it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

6 

it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

7 

It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

9 

For we know partially and we prophesy partially,

10 

but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11 

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

12 

At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

13 

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Luke
Chapter 10

27 

He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”