The Tense of the Verb "To Love"

Faith holds on to the past promise. Hope unfolds in the future. There remains the present, in which charity lives. So says Jean-luc Marion in his essay, "What Love Knows," in Prolegomena to Charity.

"[C] harity plays itself out in the present: in order to know if I love, I need not wait, I have only to love; and I know perfectly well when I love, when I do not love, and when I hate. Contrary to the certitude of faith, which requires time for perseverance. . . and unlike the certitude of hope, which will only find its reward in the last days, charity waits for nothing, commences right away, and is fulfilled without delay. Charity manages the present. . .

"This, no doubt, is the reason why charity disheartens us, worries us, and taxes us: because, when it comes to charity, no excuse, no way out, no explanation is of any avail. I love or I do not love, I give or I do not give. It is certainly no accident that all the parables of the Last Judgment hinge not on faith . . . nor on hope . . . but on charity. Have we helped our neighbor, given even from our surplus, loved the least among us? This is the only criteria, the only crisis, the only test. The judgment singles out not the athletes of faith, nor the militants of hope, but the workers of charity.

"By consequence, charity becomes for each of us the site of an individual Judgment that, in the end, includes the whole span of time that we call our life. Following the Johannine theology of the Judgment, our judgment remains immanent: we judge ourselves by freely taking a definite position before the word of Christ, with out any extrinsic condemnation, so that at each moment we choose, patiently and decisively, whether we love Christ or hate him . . . a disturbing doctrine, which puts everything in our hands; all the more disturbing in that it concerns the simplest act - to love or not to love. For our nearest neighbor - "Interior intimo meo" -- is always Christ. Thus we judge ourselves according to whether we are charitable to charity . . ."

As Marian explains, charity is now, which means, there's no time to lose!

Listen to Susan Boyle, "Make me a Channel of Your Peace"

Same by Sarah MacLaughlin.

Same by Angelika.

Donovan's from Brother Sun, Sister Moon.