On the Ordo Amoris

A return to the sources

The ordo amoris has been in the news lately. Is it true that you ought to love some people more than others, and that you ought to do good more to those who are closer to you? Should this be part of government benefits? Is there is an order in the way one ought to love neighbor in Christianity? I decided to go back to one of the sources, St. Thomas Aquinas.

Some deserve more love than others

It’s true! You should love some people more than others. The first case of this is God, whom you should love more than anyone else. Thomas says that “he is loved as the cause of happiness, whereas our neighbor is loved as receiving together with us a share of happiness from Him.” The cause is loved more than the effect.

What about people? Should I love them all equally? No, in fact. You should love yourself more than you love your neighbor. It’s a command of God, after all. You should love yourself because you have a share of the divine goodness. This is primary to your love of the other that he too may share in that goodness. The proof is interesting! Thomas says that you’re not allowed to sin, even if that sin would help another person. “A man ought not to give way to any evil sin, which counteracts his share of happiness, not even that he may free his neighbor from sin.” So, the basic rule against letting the ends justify the means is a consequence of your duty to love self first and neighbor second.

You should love everyone

This is true, but it is not so simple as it sounds. Love consists of the object that you wish for the beloved, and the intensity of the feeling. The two are not the same. So, you can wish that everyone partake of the glory of God. Note that very good people will deserve more of that glory than the ordinary person, and so will be more worthy of love. Justice demands that you love the great saint more than the ordinary person!

But the intensity of the love will depend on you, and you will have more intense affection for those who are closer to you, regardless of the degree of their closeness to God. Thus you may love Mom more intensely because she’s your mom, but you may love St. John more with respect to his holiness.

Beneficence: What should you do about it?

Given that you ought to love different people differently, how should you act? Thomas points out that we have a duty to love everyone, but that we can’t do good to everyone. Thus we’ll have to make some distinctions. “Charity binds us, though not actually doing good to someone, to be prepared in mind to do good to anyone if we have time to spare.” Augustine puts it a little differently:

Since one cannot do good to all, we ought to consider those chiefly who by reason of place, time or any other circumstance, by a kind of chance are more closely united to us.

We used to say that charity starts at home, but when the ordo amoris came up in politics, the thought was soundly rejected by some who went so far as to claim that it is not Christian. But in a world of finite resources, it’s clear that you can’t do good to all. You’ll have to make distinctions.

Is it possible that with fiat currency, where money is made out of nothing, that people think resources are unlimited? If time and money were infinite, you would have to help everyone equally!

The requirements of almsgiving

St. Thomas teaches that almsgiving requires of the giver that he or she not give out of necessities. If you give your food away and then starve, or your family starves, you have not done well. The one who receives alms likewise should be in genuine need. It is reasonable to question whether public money is being given out of surplus, and also whether those who receive it really need it.

Can you give alms out of ill-gotten goods?

Thomas asks whether you can give alms out of ill-gotten goods. Can you rob a bank and then give to the poor? Clearly not! That money belongs to other people, and you need to give it back to those who own it. You can’t launder the moral wrong by giving your stolen goods to the poor.

You could give your filthy money to the poor if you got it from criminals. So, if you’re Al Capone and you make money by selling illegal liquor to lawbreakers, you could give to the poor. In fact, he did so. When I was a child, there were still people in Chicago who loved Capone because of his beneficence.

If you are a prostitute, says Thomas, you can also give your money to the poor. “The practice of whoredom is filthy and against the Law of God, yet the woman does not act unjustly or unlawfully in taking the money.” The deed ought not to be done, but it ought to be recompensed!

Government Charity?

The controversy arose because the politician who brought up the ordo amoris is opposing what he sees as the profligate spending of government money. But is this charity at all? Who is doing the giving, and where does the money come from? Does the “government” give money to the poor?

No, the government gets money from people and then distributes it. The politicians who vote for the policies do not give of their own substance at all. Is this an act of charity?

There is a 37 trillion dollar debt. Any money that the US government distributes is hardly even money, it being produced by fiat. Every dollar thus created lessens the wealth of the citizens, since their dollar buys less. Doesn’t this make it a case of ill-gotten goods? If you rob people of their money to give to the poor, you’re still a thief, and you should really give it back to those you stole it from and let them give it to charity.

(Note that Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor, but the rich had gotten rich by taxation. The case is complicated.)