by Nadine Bushell, Member of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
The United Nations has designated September 5 as the International Day of Charity and has acknowledged the work of the Church in this area.
The United Nations declaration stated:“Recognising the efforts of charitable organisations and individuals, including the work of Mother Teresa,
1. Decides to designate September 5 as the International Day of Charity;
2. Invites all Member States, organisations of the United Nations system and
other international and regional organisations, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organisations and individuals, to commemorate the International Day of Charity in an appropriate manner, by encouraging charity, including through education and public awareness-raising activities.”
Pope Francis, in a recent meeting with the Caritas leadership, said “a Church without charity does not exist.” Charity is therefore an essential component of the Church’s existence.
In a Lenten letter, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI emphasised that there could be no faith without action, without charity: “Faith without works, is like a tree without fruit…Faith helps us to recognise the gifts that God in his goodness has entrusted to us; charity makes them fruitful.”
Charity is therefore something that each Catholic is required to engage in.
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 1822- 1823) tells us,“Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own ‘to the end’, he makes manifest the Father’s love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love’.
And again: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you’.”
Charity provides the opportunity for us to love our neighbour as ourselves.
It represents a life in faith. Charity reminds us that faith is never the end of the journey but the beginning. Love is by nature something that transforms us. We cannot encounter Christ and not be changed by the experience.
We cannot experience the love of God and not be moved to return that love and allow it to permeate and direct every part of our lives.
We do this by being our brother’s and sister’s keeper and providing assistance in any way we can to those who are in need. It is our social responsibility as citizens, but it also linked to our faith. There are persons who believe that they are saved by faith alone and no further action is required, and there are others, for example some humanitarians, who believe that serving the poor and providing for the basic physical needs of a person is the best care that can be provided.
Our Church tells us that the two cannot be separated and one way to make a link between them is to evangelise as we help our brothers and sisters to live an authentic human life. The deepest desire of the human heart is not for bread but for the love of God. In doing charitable works we show others God’s love for all of us – the giver and the receiver.
Charity therefore “binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14).
