The Need for Charity according to Paul

Even if I were to speak all the languages of men and the language of the angels themselves, if I did not have charity, would be only like a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy and grasped all mysteries, and if I had a perfect knowledge of all things; and if I had all the faith  possible to the point of moving mountains, if I did not have charity, I would be nothing. And if I were to distribute my belongings to feed the poor and delivered my body to be burned, if I did not have charity, none of this would be of any use to me.

Charity  is patient;  it is kind and benevolent;  charity  is not envious; it is not rash or hurried; it is not full of pride; it is not scornful; it does not look after its own interests. It does not take offense or become upset by anything; it does not suspect evil; it does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things,  hopes for all things, endures all things.

Now,  these three virtues remain: faith, hope and charity, but among them, the most excellent is charity. (I Cor. 13:1-7, 13)

7. St. Paul understood this great truth so profoundly that he said: “Even if I were to speak the language of the angels themselves; if I were to have the gift of prophecy and grasped all mysteries; if I had all the faith possible to the point of moving mountains, but did not have charity, I would be nothing. Among these virtues: faith, hope and charity, the most excellent is charity.” Hence, without any doubt, he places charity above faith itself, because charity is within everyone’s  reach: the ignorant and the learned, the rich and the poor, because it is independent of any particular belief system. He does even more: he defines true charity; he shows that it is not only displayed in beneficence, but in the gathering of all the qualities of the heart, in goodness and benevolence toward one’s neighbor.