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| John Paul II Ecclesia in Europa IntraText CT - Text |
III. Let us commit ourselves to charity!
104. The appeal to exercise an active charity, which the Synod Fathers addressed to all the Christians of the European continent,167 represents the happy synthesis of an authentic service of the Gospel of hope. I now propose it anew to you, the Church of Christ in Europe. The joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of contemporary Europeans, especially the poor and the suffering, must also be your joys and your hopes, your sorrows and your anxieties. May nothing which is genuinely human lack an echo in your heart. Look upon Europe and upon its future with the sympathy of one who appreciates every positive element, yet do not close your eyes to all that is inconsistent with the Gospel and denounce it forcefully.
105. Church in Europe, welcome every day with renewed freshness the gift of charity which your Lord offers to you and enables you to accept.
Learn from him the content and the measure of love. Be the Church of the Beatitudes, constantly conformed to Christ (cf. Mt 5:1-12).
Free from all forms of hindrance and dependency, be poor yourself and a friend to the poor, welcoming every person and attentive to all forms of poverty, both old and new.
Continuously purified by the Father's goodness, see in the attitude of Christ, who always defended the truth yet still showed mercy towards sinners, the supreme norm of all your actions.
In Jesus, at whose birth peace was proclaimed (cf. Lk 2:14), in him whose death broke down the walls of enmity (cf. Eph 2:14) and brought true peace (cf. Jn 14:27), be a builder of peace. Encourage your sons and daughters to allow their hearts to be purified of all hostility, selfishness and partisanship, and to favour at all times mutual dialogue and respect.
In Jesus, who is the justice of God, never grow weary of denouncing injustice in all its forms. Living in the world with the values of the Kingdom to come, you will be a Church of charity and you will make your indispensable contribution to the building in Europe of a civilization ever more worthy of man.