Thomas Aquinas Revelation on Charity

Children are often raised to know to love others the way they wish to be loved. This
appears elementary, but it is actually a concept that has been long debated by philosophers and
theologians, including Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and famous theologian Thomas
Aquinas. It can be very difficult to love neighbors and enemies with whom one does not agree. Is
it really necessary to love all of them all the time? This paper will argue that contrary to the
stories presented by Dostoevskys , Thomas Aquinas is correct in saying that it is very possible,
and even essential, to love ones friends, neighbors, and enemies in order to obtain true, eternal
happiness.
Charity can be fundamentally defined as love, love for God and for others. Humanitys
natural inclination is to love God because ultimate, eternal happiness is found through the souls
direct, intimate participation in the Godhead, or trinity. It is logical that one would be drawn
towards loving God in order to obtain this perfected happiness. Thomas Aquinas asserts that
humans striving for such heavenly happiness require a love for the common good of the whole
society, and that is the divine good, since it is the object of happiness (2.120: 108). The whole
society Aquinas refers to is the heavenly society of those who are capable of participating in the
Godhead, namely anyone who has a soul made in the image and likeness of God (every human
person). Humans are accordingly made to love and to be loved in order to fulfill their ultimate
desire of true happiness in God in heaven. Aquinas explains that by nature, one human being
loves every human being (8.210: 146). This is because love for every human being mirrors the
true love every human being striving for heavenly happiness has for God Himself. God is found
in each human, so therefore it makes sense that a human must love everyone because of their
similar potential to live in the heavenly society with God as well.

Neighbors and friends easily fall into this category of whom a charitable person ought to
love. A friend and neighbor should be loved in order to parallel the greater love one has for God.
When a person loves his friend/neighbor, he shows love for God because God exists in that
persons soul. Aquinas says there are two reasons to love a person: by reason of a good that is
his ownor because of his relation to some other person whom we love (4.100: 120). Some
friends or neighbors may be loved on their own accord, but ultimately each person should be
loved due to a greater love and desire for God, their creator. A charitable person ought to love his
friends/neighbors in his heart and his deeds to both abstractly and practically show ultimate love
for God and longing for happiness found in God. Perfect participation in the Godhead can only
occur postmortem when a human takes on the same spiritual nature of God, when only the soul,
not physical body, exists. Humans maintain their physical bodies on earth, thus the closest one
can come to physically loving God is through loving other humans, who also contain a divine
element in their souls.
This love is entirely possible, and even easy, between friends because they usually
reciprocate the love shown to them; a type of partnership forms where the mutual love between
two friends helps both of them grow towards ultimate happiness and love for God. When
endeavoring to love ones neighbors in this manner, it can sometimes be more difficult because
they do not always respond with such eagerness to grow in each others love towards God. For
instance, Madame Khokhlakov willingly loves her neighbors as long as they thank her for her
deeds and value her kind acts, but says: I expect my payment at once that is, praise, and the
repayment of love with love. Otherwise I am incapable of loving anyone (Dostoevsky 63-64).
Aquinas would respond that it is just as important to love neighbors such as these, even if they
do not return such love all of the time. Charity is ultimately aimed towards God, by way of

another person who contains God in the soul. A charitable person is thereby called to perform
good works towards others with the love of God as their main motivation.
It may be understandable why loving ones neighbors and friends is possible and
essential, but a more difficult discussion arises with the love of ones enemies who never return
such love. For example, Ivan Karamazov particularly struggles with how to love his Russian
enemies that take joy in the torture of other people, especially innocent children. He sees their
enjoyment in the infliction of suffering as evidence of a demon inside every human, the demon
of rage, the demon of lustful heat at the screams of the tortured victim, the demon of lawlessness
let off the chain, the demon of diseases that follow on vice (Dostoevsky 287). He therefore
hates the Russians, and most adult humans, because of their violent nature apparently rooted in
evil and the demon. Thomas Aquinas, however, would respond that Karamazov is not viewing
humanity properly. Aquinas argues that one must love ones enemies because their souls also
possess the presence of God and have the potential to attain eternal happiness through
participation in the Godhead. One must accordingly hate the fact that our enemies hate us and
desire that they love us (8.205: 145). This means that one must only hate the vice in enemies,
but must still love them on principle that they are human and also made in God, who always
deserves love.
In this sense, loving ones enemies is a more perfect version of charity because it must be
done purely out of virtue. An individual can gain usefulness or pleasure out of loving a friend,
but he cannot gain anything personally beneficial out of loving an enemy. The love of a foe is
therefore strictly out of love for God, which is the ultimate end and the highest form of charity.
Aquinas explains that loving our enemy for the sake of something more beloved is easy. This is
how divine charity makes easy what appears impossible in itself (8.255: 147). It may be easy to

love all of humanity theoretically, but it is a very difficult or seemingly impossible task in the
particular, in the day-to-day occurrences when people are offensive and unpleasant. One must
focus on the ultimate love for God above the hate of the vice of enemies. True charity can only
be brought about by love of others in both love and deed. Loving in the particular may be more
difficult than in the abstract, but the particulars mean more because they require a higher level of
devotion to charity and serve as a greater testament to a persons love of God.
What does this mean practically for how one ought to live and love? If the ultimate
happiness is found in loving God alone, and all souls contain the spiritual presence of God, and
every human possess a soul, then the perfect happiness is only aimed for on earth by loving
every human. Love of God is found in perfecting charity through the loving and benefitting of
others in both the abstract and particular, in both thought and daily deeds. Aquinas summarizes in
saying charity is more perfect if it moves us not just to those that are close to us (neighbors and
friends), but also to strangers and, beyond that, to our enemies, loving and benefiting them not
just in a general way but even in particular (8.185: 145). Aquinas is correct in his assertion
because if one wishes to attain perfect happiness one day with God, it is logical that he must love
his neighbors, friends, strangers, and enemies while here on earth to grow towards God. This
means every interaction with another is a possibility to love God. The state of ones soul and
attainment of happiness and fulfillment is at stake according to Aquinas, especially for people
like Madame Khokhlakov and Ivan Karamazov who struggle to love neighbors and enemies.
Being charitable to people who do not always return the love may be difficult, but it is essential
for attaining everlasting joy and contentment. The only way to ensure such happiness in the
celestial realm is to live a life on earth based on a system of ethics that is focused on charity.
Charity is the basic framework of all that is right and wrong in order to live a good life; if a

person lives in order to love and benefit all those he encounters each day, he will have lived a
good corporeal life aimed at the ultimate end of unification with God, which will bring about
definitive happiness and a good heavenly life.
Despite the practical particular difficulties brought up in Dostoevskys writings, Thomas
Aquinas is correct in his stance that it is entirely possible, and even necessary, for a human to
love his friends, neighbors, and enemies in order to achieve ultimate happiness. The daily acts of
charity may be tiring and met only with ingratitude and a lack of recognition, but it is vital for
the ultimate state of ones soul to love and to be loved. Only through the perfection of charity can
one achieve the ultimate end of true happiness; to attain this, one must live with the love of God
as a primary priority, exemplified through a love for friends, neighbors, and enemies alike.