Note: Special thanks to guest contributor Cheri Cancelliere

    C. S. Lewis observed that if you
ask 20 good people to name the highest virtue, 19 of them will say
“unselfishness.” Yet, he felt quite certain that if the same question were
asked of the great saints of ages past, they would have overwhelmingly
responded “love.” He wondered how this happened in our time, the substitution
of a negative term for a positive (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 1949, HarperOne). Which do we count highest in
our service to others?

   Unselfishness implies sacrifice and
self-denial. We give up something that we think we own, our
time, ourselves,
our resources, for the benefit of someone else. Certainly, this is a noble aim,
yet it falls far short of the virtue of love. Unselfishness involves effort,
works, and in our case, the care of those in need. In reality, we can do all of
these things quite effectively without the slightest hint of love, and we do
not own anything at all! Our lives,
our talent, our every moment is a gift from God – a gift of love.

   
Unselfishness does, but
love just is. Unselfishness is an act
of our will, but love is an attitude of
the heart, and the most wonderful gift we can give. An unselfish act will
be fondly remembered, but love changes hearts and lives forever. Love brings
hope and chases away fear. Love tells the lonely that they are no longer alone.
Love encourages those who are suffering that someone really does care. Love
costs us nothing, but brings eternal rewards when we give it away and give it
away we must, for we cannot own love. It is a free gift.

   St. Paul tells us that we can do
many things including dramatic acts of sacrifice, but without love we are
nothing (1 Cor 13:3). Love is the greatest gift we can give those whom we care
for, not simply our doing, but our being, in an attitude of the heart that we
can choose anew – every moment of every day. When there is nothing more to do
and we have given all we have and think we are completely empty, our most
priceless gift waits to be given. It is always there, for love just is. “Let us love one another, because love is from God”
(1 John 4:7).

 -Cheri Cancelliere