Pope to Caritas Internationalis:
the meaning of Charity
 |
| Pope Francis speaks to members of Caritas Internationalis (Vatican Media) |
Pope Francis invites participants at the Caritas
Internationalis General Assembly in Rome to reflect on three key concepts of
charity, integral development and communion.
By Vatican News
More than 300 delegates of Caritas Internationalis Member
Organizations have been meeting in Rome since last week for their 21st General
Assembly, on the theme “One human family, one common home”. The meeting takes
place every four years to review the progress and policies of the Caritas
Confederation, and to define a strategic framework that will carry it forward
over the next four years.
Charity
When he received the delegates in the Vatican on Monday,
Pope Francis began by reaffirming how charity is not just “an offering we make
in order to keep our conscience quiet”. Rather, “charity has its origin and its
essence in God himself”, he said. “If we considered charity a service, the
Church would become a humanitarian agency and the service of charity would
become her ‘logistics department’”, said the Pope.
Integral development
That is why the service of charity “must choose the logic of
integral development as an antidote to the throwaway culture of indifference”,
he continued. “The poor are above all persons, and their faces conceal that of
Christ himself”. The Pope stressed how “the worst discrimination from which the
poor suffer is lack of spiritual attention". “They need God”, he said,
“and we cannot fail to offer them His friendship, His blessing, His Word”.
Communion
Finally, “it is communion in Christ and in the Church that
animates, accompanies and sustains the service of charity”, said the Pope. “In
this way, the diakonia of charity becomes a visible instrument of
communion…which is central in the Church, and defines its essence”.
Charity is a relationship
Pope Francis then offered other definitions of what charity
is – and is not. “You cannot live charity without having interpersonal
relationships with the poor”, he said, adding how charity must involve the
heart, the soul and our whole being. The Pope warned against living a
“hypocritical or deceptive charity”, associating charitable work with
philanthropy, efficiency, or obsessive organization. Charity is the most
“coveted of the virtues to which we can aspire in order to imitate God”, he
said.
Charity is not a business
“Charity”, said Pope Francis, “is not a sedative for our
restless conscience”. It is also not a business. The Pope spoke of the scandal
of those who “talk a lot about charity but live in luxury”, organizing meetings
on charity and “wasting so much money”. “Charity is not an idea or a pious
feeling”, he concluded, “but an experiential encounter with Christ”, where we
meet Him in the poor.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét