I. The service of charity

In communion and solidarity

84. For every person, charity received and given is the primordial experience which gives rise to hope. “Man cannot live without hope. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own. If he does not participate intimately in it”.¹⁴⁰

The challenge for the Church in Europe today consists, therefore, in helping contemporary man to experience the love of God the Father and of Christ in the Holy Spirit, through the witness of charity, which possesses an intrinsic power of evangelization.

In the end this is the real meaning of the “Gospel”, the good news meant for every human being: God first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4: 10, 19) and Jesus has loved us to the end (cf. Jn 13:1). Thanks to the gift of the Spirit, God's love is offered to believers, enabling them to become sharers in his own capacity to love: it becomes a powerful force in the heart of every disciple and in all the Church (cf. 2 Cor 5:14). Precisely because it is a gift of God, charity becomes a commandment for everyone (cf. Jn 13: 34).

To live in charity thus becomes good news addressed to every person, and makes visible the love of God who abandons no one. In the last analysis, it means giving those who have lost their way real reasons for continuing to hope.

85. It is the vocation of the Church, as a “credible sign – even if imperfect – of an existential and experiential love, to lead men and women to an encounter with the love of God and Christ, who comes in search of them”.¹⁴¹ The Church bears witness that she is the “sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity among men” ¹⁴² when individuals, families and communities live intensely the Gospel of charity. In a word, our ecclesial communities are called to be true training-grounds for communion.

By its very nature the witness of charity must extend beyond the confines of ecclesial communities and reach out to every person, so that love for everyone can become a stimulus to authentic solidarity in every part of society. When the Church is at the service of love, she also facilitates the growth of a “culture of solidarity” and thus helps to restore life to the universal values of human coexistence.

In this context we need to rediscover the authentic meaning of Christian volunteerism. Born of and continually nourished by faith, Christian volunteer work should combine professional skills and genuine love, impelling those engaged in it “to lift their feelings of good will towards others to the heights of Christ's charity; to renew every day, amid hard work and weariness, their awareness of the dignity of every person; to search out people's needs and, where necessary, to set out on new paths where needs are greater but care and support weaker”.¹⁴³