Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Church's vitality can be measured by her charity, given the saying of Saint Teresa of Jesus: “love is never idle.” Oftentimes, there often conditions of poverty and difficulties that demand a heroic response in missionary lands, both in living out the task of evangelization as well as in offering material services. Throughout her history, the Church has seen an infinite number of witnesses, in both the past and present, of this heroic love. We can simply recall Fr. Damian de Veuster, who dedicated his entire existence to the lepers of Molokai, or Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who lived among us not long ago. In his encyclical, Deus caritas est, Benedict XVI mentioned that “the entire activity of the Church is an expression of a love that seeks the integral good of man: it seeks his evangelization through Word and Sacrament, an undertaking that is often heroic in the way it is acted out in history; and it seeks to promote man in the various arenas of life and human activity. Love is therefore the service that the Church carries out in order to attend constantly to man's sufferings and his needs, including material needs” (DCE, 19).
Practicing charity forms an essential part of the Church, as does preaching and administering the sacraments. It is something she cannot renounce. Thus, showing charity towards the poor, children, and those who suffer becomes a witness to hope. Many of our brethren who live amidst desperate situations, injustice, extreme poverty, etc. could be tempted to believe that evil rules the world, that there is no chance of change, that those who live in comfort have forgotten those who suffer, or even that God has forgotten them. In the midst of suffering, the charity of missionaries and Christians in general, is a ray of light, a witness to the fact that love is alive and active, that the love of God reaches out to them through the lives of Christians.
Love is always light and always bears fruit. Even the most insignificant acts are a cause for joy, faith, and trust in the good God who looks after His needy children through the working hands of Christians. It is sad to see the many accusations God receives against His goodness, as a result of our selfishness.
The Pope invites us to a more courageous and “daring” love, characteristic of those humble souls who are capable of carrying out risky and prodigious ventures because of their trust in Providence and in God's paternal love. When one lives in this manner, there is no sense of disproportion between the monumental nature of a task and the poverty of human strengths, as everything relies on the power of God. The greater the task, the greater our trust in God should be.
In the first half of the 3rd Century, Tertullian commented on how the pagans admired the charity of the Christians. The testimony of charity gives preaching an irresistible strength, and in a certain way, guarantees the fact that the faith is not an ideology. In fact, the faith is believing and accepting the love of God which became flesh in Jesus Christ and has entered human history, to change man's heart, freeing him from sin, selfishness, and pride, and making him participate in His divine life, capable of loving with His same love, because “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5).
This greatness makes love overcome all obstacles. In its own nature, the divine love that we - as children of God – have received, has a universal dimension. No one can be excluded, not even our enemies.
This year, the Church is celebrating the Lord's Paschal Mystery in the month of April. Contemplating Christ, who died and rose for us, we can let our hearts be filled with that “love until the end” (Cf. Jn. 13:1) that He showed us in His Passion, in His loving service, as “Yahweh's Servant” (Cf. Is. 53) who took on our crimes and rebellion, and whose chastisement brought us healing and peace.
Love would be impossible for the Church, if Christ would not have died for us, if He had not freed us from the prison of our selfishness, where sin had held us bound. But now that the Truth of His love has freed us, we should allow this love to shine forth in us, so that our lives do not render Christ's Cross fruitless, but rather through Christians' testimony of charity, the light of His Resurrection may fill every corner of the world as proof that Love has conquered death and despair.
We ask Saint Mary, who joyfully embraced her Risen Son, to intercede for the Church, that she may always respond promptly, like the Blessed Virgin, in carrying out her service of charity. (Agenzia Fides 27/3/2009)
