The need of charity, according to Saint Paul:

Charity is patient; is kind and beneficent. Charity is not envious; is not reckless, nor precipitate; it is not prideful; - is not disdainful; it doesn't take care of its interests; it does not enrage nor turns itself sour with anything; it does not suspect badly; it does not rejoice in the iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; it bears everything, believes everything, waits and suffers everything.

This is the way in which Saint Paul understood this great truth, which said: When I have learned the language of the angels, when I have the gift of prophecy - which I can penetrate all the mysteries -, when I have all the faith that is possible - even to the point of transporting mountains -, if l do not have charity, then l am nothing. Within these three virtues: faith, hope and charity, the most superior is charity. In this manner, and without any possible doubt, Paul places charity above even faith. This is because charity is within the reach of everybody, from the ignorant to the wise person, from rich to poor people, and it is independent of any particular beliefs.

He does even more: he defines true charity, shows it as being not only beneficence, but also as a collective of all the qualities of the heart; in the goodness, and in benevolence towards all of our fellow beings.