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Observations

Caritas

Caritas captures who God is, who we are in Christ, and how we should be in the world. It's first transformation into the new, then formation within the new.

Author
Rick Shafer
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A rendering of St. Augustine and caritas with a reference to 1 John 4:8
    1 John 4:8
    Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

    Matthew 22:36-40
    “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
    Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

    Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), St. Augustine, developed a helpful lens for growth and relational interaction. He adopted the Latin word caritas, meaning dearness or costliness. The word is associated with regard, esteem, affection, love, and preciousness.

    Augustine's caritas begins with transformation. A follower of Christ is one who has been fundamentally changed by the Spirit, rescued from the patterns of this world to participate fully in God's kingdom of love. God is love.

    Augustine's ideas around caritas extend further to the proper ordering of our loves. Formation. Jesus taught that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. When we seem caught between loving God (obedience) and how we might like to love ourselves and others, our obedience to God must come first. It must shape the ways that we love ourselves and others. But our love never stops with God. It expands to encompass others and then self.

    The concept of caritas shows us that:

    • Our fundamental orientation is always toward love (gift of self).
    • Our first priority is always love of God, demonstrated in our trusting obedience to him.
    • Our first-order love for God always extends to love for others, self, and creation.
    • Love of God shapes how we love everything else. Love is not an either/or choice between God and others. We don't love on our terms or others' terms. We love on God's terms; we love as he loves.

    Caritas captures who God is, who we are in Christ, and how we should be in the world. It's first transformation into the new, then formation within the new.