International Day of Charity
The fullness of mission: looks and gestures within everyone’s reach
When the United Nations General Assembly established this International Day in December 2012, it paid tribute to St. Teresa of Calcutta (Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1979, died on 5 September 1997) foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, recognised as the greatest witness of charity in modern times, canonised on 4 September 2016 by Pope Francis.
Foto: gariwo.net
The worst disease today
is not feeling wanted
nor loved, feeling abandoned.
There are many people in the world
who die of hunger,
but an even greater number
die for lack of love.
Everyone needs love.
Everyone needs to know
that they are wanted, that they are loved,
and to be important to God.
There is hunger for love,
and there is hunger for God.
Charity is at the heart of every religious belief: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, in Confucianism, etc. For us, the encouragement to make charity the basis of our daily relationships, in these dark times of ours, is to follow the teachings of Jesus and like St Paul practise the Hymn to Charity (First Letter to the Corinthians).
“…These then are the three things that remain:
faith, hope, charity.
But of all the greatest is charity.”
“For a Church that knows how to become missionary, charity thus becomes the fundamental condition for constructively addressing the problems that the current situation presents. It is the cement of the body in which we all live, participating in a common destiny in which no one can be left behind. In the knowledge that the style of charity-mission resembles “a sweet song, a light bulb that lights up, a slow but steady, silent step, a caress that, bowing the head, with the cheek one wants to hold”. A heart of stone that – in prayer – turns into a heart of flesh. In a continuous exchange between action and contemplation, between life and faith, between concrete charity and spiritual charity.”
(Sourec: http://www.caritastarvisina.it/giornata-internazionale-della-carita/)
The practice of charity demands a spirituality capable of motivating and inspiring, without allowing itself to be overwhelmed by emergencies in the management of apostolic services.
CHARITABLE LOOKS AND GESTURES
ARE THE RED THREAD OF OUR MISSION
“Instruct the girls
With charity and good manners,
that they may be persuaded
that you want for them
the most advantageous good possible.”
(St. Mary Euphrasia)
Download the collection of prayers Charity is Mission, published online by Caritas Italiana (PDF available online) in 2020, just in view of Charity Day, can support this spiritual journey