“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them” (Matthew 25:19).
Christ’s parable reminds us that the gift of charity is not principally for the sake of this life; charity achieves its end in heaven.
Charity focuses us on our final destination.
Friendship demands sharing a life together, and so friendship with God can only be fully achieved if we can share eternal life with him.
This is the third degree of charity: perfection.
At the same time, charity does not become something different when we die.
St. Paul writes that there are three things that endure into eternal life: faith, hope, and charity.
But the greatest of these is charity, precisely because charity remains the same (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Faith gives way to our vision of God; hope is fulfilled with salvation, but the friendship we have with God on earth is the same friendship that continues in heaven.
The friendship improves and deepens when we are closer to God in heaven, but is the same friendship.
Similarly, the souls in heaven continue to have charity toward each other.
To the extent that friendships on earth are based on sharing the love of God, those friendships will endure and be perfected in heaven.
Even the desire to render aid to the suffering Christians on earth will continue in heaven, as we see in the Book of Revelation, where the saints in heaven pray to God for those suffering on earth (Revelation 6:9-11).
The love of charity, as St. Paul assures us, does not end with death (1 Corinthians 13:8).
Further, we are told in the parable that those faithful in little things will be set over much.
Those who spend their life pouring themselves out in charity will receive an even greater arena for their love.
Just as Christ continues to intercede for us even more powerfully in heaven (Hebrews 7:25), so will those who have loved greatly on earth join their love to Christ’s.
They will reign with him and distribute good things to those they love.
The charity of this life, therefore, already shares in the life of heaven.
The love of Christian friendship only intensifies; it does not cease.
Our experience of authentic Christian community and our experience of loving communion with God are the foretaste of heavenly life.
They remind us to focus on our final destination.
A soul that lacks this charity will have neither the desire nor the ability to appreciate the heavenly life that awaits.
Spend a few moments telling God that you love him.
Ask him to make you love him more.
Then consider your experiences of Christian friendship and how you can use those experiences to intensify your focus on loving union with God in heaven.
