No Love Without Justice — Thomas Merton

There is no charity without justice. Too often we think of charity as a kind of moral luxury, as something which we choose to practice, and which gives us merit in God’s sight, at the same time satisfying a certain interior need to “do good.”… Such charity is immature and even in some cases completely unreal. True charity is love, and love implies deep concerns for the needs of another. It is not a matter of moral self-indulgence, but of strict obligation…. I am obliged by the law of Christ and of the Spirit to be concerned about my brother’s need, above all with his greatest need, the need for love. — The Redwood Conferences & Letters: Thomas Merton in California, p. 434 (Editor David M. Odorisio’s note—original quote from Merton’s book Life and Holiness, pp. 87-88)