helpful bit

From Fr. Dewan - nature acting for an end.

. . grace and virtue imitate the order of nature, which has been instituted by the divine wisdom. Now, the order of nature is such that each natural agent puts forth its action by priority to those things that are closer to it: thus, for example, a fire heats more the thing closer to it. And similarly God sends forth the gifts of his goodness by priority and more fully to those substances which are closer to him, as is clear from Dionysius in On the Celestial Hierarchy c. 4.
Now, the conferring of benefits is an action of charity towards others. And therefore it is necessary that we benefit more those who are closer to us.
However, proximity of one human being to another can be considered in function of the diverse areas in which humans have things in common with each other: there is the natural community of blood relatives; there is the political community of fellow citizens; there is the spiritual community of the faithful; and so on. And in keeping with the diverse links diverse benefits are to be dispensed in diverse measures: for, to each one is more to be conferred the benefit pertaining to that thing in function of which the person is more conjoined to us, speaking generally. Still, this is subject to variation in keeping with diversity of places and times and undertakings: for, in some case it is the stranger who is more to be aided, for example, if he is in dire necessity, than even [one’s own] father who is not suffering so great a need.