Christ is Risen!
The Greek word for charity (love) is agape, and caritas in Latin. Charity is not just giving alms (impersonally) to the needy. Charitable love is possible only by uniting our own love of God with others, as Christ commanded.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ~St. John 13:34
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. ~ St. John 15:10-12
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:2-3
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ~ Colossians 3:14
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ~1 John 4:7-8
As the memory of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not bring about the illumination of knowledge in the soul. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor
Love of God loves always to give wings to the mind to speak of God and Divine things; and love of neighbour disposes it always to think well of him. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor
Love is a bomb the destroys all evil. ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia
If the face of a loved one clearly and completely changes us, and makes us cheerful, gay and carefree, what will the Face of the Lord do when He makes His Presence felt invisibly in a pure soul? ~ St. John Climacus
God is love. So he who wishes to define this tries with bleary eyes to measure the sand in the ocean. ~ St. John Climacus
Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three greatest characteristics of divine love. They are characteristics of all real love – if there is such a thing as real love outside divine love. Without these three characteristics, love is not love. If you give the name ‘love’ to anything else, it is as though you were giving the name ‘sheep’ to a goat or a pig. ~ St. Nikolai Velimirovic
Truly, He is Risen!