Message for the 26th Caritas Sunday

You shall love your neighbour as yourself

Dear brothers and sisters in the love of God,

We are now observing the Advent season waiting for the birth of the Son of God in our midst. During the Advent season we are looking in a spirit of humility and repentance for the eternal life which will be given by the Child Jesus.

The Catholic Church in Korea observes the third Sunday of Advent as Caritas Sunday. The Church invites us to experience the presence of Christ in this world as well as to live as the agents of God who sew the seed of hope for life in our charitable activities. This invitation calls us to attend to the poor and suffering who have to manage a marginalized life in our society and to show charity to them, welcoming them in the mercy of God. Moreover, the invitation challenges our capacity to overcome all the miseries residing deeply in the hearts of human beings and thus to lead them to happiness.

Nowadays many of our neighbours are in trouble because of global financial instability and economic crisis. Too many of them are discouraged and even driven to despair. At the same time, our life is eroded by a deadly addiction to insatiable consumption and greed. There are men and women who are full of lust and avarice, thinking that they can live forever in this world. They have no time to reflect deeply on their lives. They say we have to make an effort to recover the sluggish economy, but they just depend on the logic of capitalism. They fail to understand how the foundation of our life cannot become sound and strong by means of economy, let alone what the economy itself should mean. For a long time now education and culture have become vehicles for the expansion and reproduction of competition and a greediness for consumption. Consequently, everything that cannot promote efficiency, achievement, output or profit and everything that seems feeble and worthless becomes the victim of economic restructuring.

We believe in Christ. Believing in Christ means participating in the saving work of Christ for all. We set our mode of existence on the basis of the work of Christ. Christ invites us to live for other people, not just for ourselves. To this invitation belong: sharing what we have with our neighbours; living with an awareness that the happiness we are enjoying now might be at the expense of our neighbours; dedicating ourselves to our neighbours in the spirit of self-denial; recovering the order of love which has been in confusion because of greed. To this invitation belongs also the turning of our life without God to a life with God because God is the key to solve all our human problems. Last but not least, this invitation asks us to live and die like Jesus Christ whose life was truly rich even though he was born poor and had no possessions.

The Child Jesus, who comes in our midst, abides in our neighbours and teaches us to love our neighbours as ourselves. We tend to regard the love for our neighbours as just one of many virtues for us as believers. However, the love for our neighbours is the greatest and most essential commandment together with the love for God. Love is the center, fulfillment and totality of all the commandments as St. Paul told us: "For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'" (Gal 5,14).

When we love our neighbours and devote ourselves to their happiness, we love and serve God. When we fail completely to heed others and try only to be 'devout' and to perform 'religious duties', then the relationship with God becomes merely 'proper' and loveless (Cf. Deus caritas est, n. 18).

When we want to inherit eternal life, we have to love the Lord, our God, and love our neighbours as ourselves with all our heart, with all our being, with all our strength, and with all our mind (Cf. Lk 10,25-27). In this way we are giving our word that we will truly love our neighbours as ourselves with the love of God which has been "poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rm 5,5). The Church must devote herself to charitable works for the unfortunate and poor, as well as for the marginalized, to the last moment of their need for love as St. Luke told us: "Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back" (Lk 10,35). God will remember us as the righteous when we are not stingy in our relationship with our poor neighbours and share what we have with them willingly and when we keep in mind that we are much happier in giving than in receiving, as God told us. He will preserve us from the darkness and save us from death.

On the occasion of the 26th Caritas Sunday, we take a pledge again to welcome our neighbours with love and try to relieve them from poverty and to be born again as serving believers who can find Christ in our neighbours. The best dedication to God is, most of all, to love our neighbours. As His people waiting for the birth of His Holy Son we must be prepared to welcome the Lord with the gift of 'charity,' I express my gratitude for the effort and services of those who practice silently the love of the Lord as if it is for themselves; my prayer is "to those who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ may mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance" (Jd 1,1-2).

December 13, 2009
On the 26th Caritas Sunday

+ Francis Xavier Ahn Myeong-ok
Bishop of Masan
President
CBCK Committee for "Caritas Coreana"