If you ask a well-versed Protestant Christian what you need to be saved, you'll more than likely hear one word: “faith.” Scripture clearly teaches that faith in Jesus Christ justifies us, giving us the forgiveness of our sins and the righteousness that Jesus has merited for us by his death and Resurrection. Over the years I've heard a number of my Evangelical friends quote Ephesians 2:8-9 with conviction: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” Catholics, of course, agree with this scriptural teaching.
Catholic disagree, however, with the Protestant assertion that we are saved by faith “alone,” because it implies that hope and charity are optional. James 2:24 highlights the roles of works of charity, saying, “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” St. Paul emphasizes the role of charity when he writes in Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 even says, “if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” My point in highlighting these biblical verses is not to debate over Protestant theology - our non-Catholic brothers and sisters are well aware of these Scripture verses - but simply to highlight the essential role of charity in Scripture and in Catholic teaching about our salvation.
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines charity this way:
388. What is charity?
Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment, the fullness of the law. “It is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14) and the foundation of the other virtues to which it gives life, inspiration, and order. Without charity “I am nothing” and “I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Jesus himself highlighted the love of God and of neighbor as essential to our eternal life:
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 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.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-28)
Notice that Jesus calls us to love God not with some faint affection, but with our entire selves, with all that we have and all that we are. Jesus doesn't just ask that we include God among the many things that we love, but that we love God above all else, because he, as perfect goodness itself, is more worthy of love than anything else that exists. We are called to give ourselves completely to the Lord, because he gives himself completely to us.
At the same time and inseparably, we are called to love our neighbors, because every person is created in the image of God. “If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20) Jesus commands us to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44), who often seem unworthy of our love, because every single person is someone whom God has created, for whom Jesus died, and to whom eternal life is offered. The Servant of God Dorothy Day went so far as to say, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”
On our own strength, however, we cannot love God and others as we are called to. Jesus, therefore, gives us his strength to love by sending the Holy Spirit. “[T]he love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5:5).” By grace, the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead dwells within us (Romans 5:11), empowering us to put to death our sins and to live a new life of charity, so that we may learn to love as Jesus loves (John 15:12). Jesus does not just command us to love, but unites us to himself, allowing us to participate in his own love.
St. Thomas Aquinas very insightfully defined charity as our “friendship” with God (Summa Theologiae II-II, 23, 1). The God who is love became man in Jesus Christ and now invites us to be not his mere servants, but his friends (John 15:15). “Charity” is not just something that we do, but is itself this new fellowship with God to which we are invited through Jesus. Charity is not just some virtue that we need to muster up in order to merit heaven, but is itself the beginning of the communion with God that will give us joy in eternity. In heaven, our faith in God will give way to seeing him, and hope for God will give way to possessing him, but our charity, the fellowship with God that is fostered in this life, will remain for all of eternity (1 Corinthians 13; Summa Theologiae I-II, 67).
Charity is the heart of the Gospel, the very reason for which we were created. Pope John Paul II called love “the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being” (Familiaris Consortio 11). Pope Benedict XVI said, “Christian holiness is nothing other than charity lived to the full” (General Audience, 13 April 2011). Charity is, in fact, the primary criterion by which we will be judged after our death. The Catechism, quoting St. John of the Cross, summarizes, “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.” (CCC 1022)
The theological virtue of charity cannot exist in our hearts, however, without both faith and hope. We cannot love God if we do not believe in him or trust in him. Our love of God is only as strong as our faith and hope in him. If we want to prepare our hearts for eternal life, then, let us ask God for the grace to grow in faith (belief in God and all that he has revealed), in hope (trust in God and his promises), and in charity (love of God and neighbor). “And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)