It must be said that Brandt would surely have preferred the embrace of his deceased brother. This would have been greater in all the most obvious ways. And yet in another sense, Brandt must know that there is, in this embrace, a greater love — a love which finds its reason in God alone.

In Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI writes: “Love of neighbour…consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend.”

Brandt looked upon Amber as someone loved by God. Not everyone sees this way, nor can we expect or demand that everyone see this way. Nietzscheans will find it to be nothing but slave morality and weakness. Yet many did see something in that Dallas courtroom. We saw an intimate and personal love that wasn’t sexual, or self-serving, or demanding, or needy. The world saw someone will the good of another, purely, and truly. In the midst of so much darkness, the world saw a great light — we saw charity in a Dallas courtroom, and in seeing charity, we see God. Not directly but indirectly we see that the love of God and neighbor are one — we can glimpse, through a single extraordinary act of charity, the One who is Love Itself.