| In praise of charity |
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In John’s gospel the Lord says: By this love you have for one another, everyone will know you are my disciples. In a letter by John we read: My
dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to
love can never have known God, because God is love.
So the faithful should look into themselves and
carefully examine their minds and the impulses of their hearts. If they
find some of the fruits of love stored in their hearts then they must
not doubt God’s presence within them, but to make themselves more and
more able to receive so great a guest they should do more and more works
of durable mercy and kindness. After all, if God is love, charity
should know no limit, for God himself cannot be confined within limits.
What is the appropriate time for performing works of
charity? My beloved children, any time is the right time, but these days
of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present
at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above
all to win this grace. Charity contains all other virtues and covers a
multitude of sins.
As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all
mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ destroyed our sins, let us
first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings — that is, our works
of mercy. What God in his goodness has already given to us, let us give
to those who have sinned against us.
And to the poor also, and to those who are afflicted
in various ways, let us show a more open-handed generosity so that God
may be thanked through many voices and the needy may be fed as a result
of our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God
more pleasure than the support that is lavished on his poor. Where God
finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognises the
reflection of his own fatherly care.
Do not be put off giving by a lack of resources. A
generous spirit is itself great wealth, and there can be no shortage of
material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is
fed. His hand is present in all this activity: his hand, which
multiplies the bread by breaking it and increases it by giving it away.
When you give alms, do not be anxious but full of
happiness. The greatest treasure will go to the one who has kept the
least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides
seed for the sower will give bread for food, provide you with more seed,
and increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
