A ‘formation of the heart’
Recently I was privileged to be invited, along with 75 other directors of Catholic social service agencies in the United States, to a week-long spiritual retreat in Guadalajara, Mexico, organized by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council Cor Unum. Also invited were leaders from similar agencies in Latin American countries, bringing the total number of attendees at the Universidad Catolica to about 500.
We were blessed to have Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household, as our primary speaker. Also presenting reflections was Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president of Cor Unum, the organization which oversees the Church’s charitable activities throughout the world.
The spiritual exercises were meant to help charity workers gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the two greatest commandments: love of God and love of neighbor. The reflections focused on sacred Scripture and on Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, “Deus Caritas Est.”
One of the most important parts of this encyclical is the discussion of the Church’s charitable activity conducted by professional and voluntary personnel and the need “to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work” (“Deus Caritas Est,” No. 37). Benedict stresses that “in addition to their necessary professional training, these charity workers need a ‘formation of the heart’: they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others” (No. 31a). These workers have to avoid the approach of those Christians who sometimes reduce God to a footnote in their lives.
According to Father Cantalamessa, when we are faced with the urgency of “giving bread,” some of us may be tempted to put God into parentheses — first the bread and then the Word of God. It is a fatal error to separate these two and even worse to oppose the one to the other. We cannot reduce the Gospel message to a purely earthly gospel.
In other words, when we help our neighbor, we must bring hope that goes beyond the grave. This is what makes the Church’s charitable organizations distinct and different from secular charitable agencies that “do good works.” People whom we serve must experience the love of Christ. For most people, charity is the only way that they experience Christ’s love in this world.
According to Cardinal Cordes, Jesus Christ always did good (charitable works) in relation to the proclamation of the Word. The bond between serving humanity and paying witness to the Gospel is a link no one can break. The Church is calling all Catholic charity groups to reaffirm the link between Christian faith and charitable activity. We must counteract a certain kind of secularism that has been creeping into Catholic agencies.
This retreat touched my heart. I was spiritually renewed not only by the reflections and presentations but also by daily Mass and vespers. I left with a greater understanding of the importance of charity in the life of a Christian.
The essence of Christian charity, I learned, is to provide a way for the Holy Spirit to enter the world as a “person” so that people can experience God’s love in an intimate way. Without “acts of charity,” the Holy Spirit remains an abstract concept for people, reducing God to an “impersonal” God.
Since the Holy Spirit does not have a physical body, we are to become the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears and the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is up to each one of us to help the Holy Spirit enter the world as a “person” to care for His children who are suffering and in need of care and love. This is a truly humbling thought.
Luteran is the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington.
