HOMLY: FOURTH DAY: CHAPTER III: VISION OF AN OPEN WORLD
The Pope states “we have to open ourselves to others according to the dynamism of charity”. Saint Thomas Aquinas explains charity’s dynamics, within a logic of the created gift infused by the Father, highlights Christ’s affective experience. With that, the primacy of charity and the dynamism of the divine gift is able to be asserted in Christ’s act of surrender. In the finalization of Christ’s act, thanks to the new supernatural principle of charity, the divine and human forces are perfectly integrated. In other words, dynamism is a force and charity is affective experience which is a gift infused by the Father to us. Affective charity is entering into the experience of the poor by being one with them in suffering, deprivation and struggles in life which moved us to share ourselves totally to them. This is Jesus. He became obedient by dying on the cross so that He could experience the very struggles of the poor which consequently the Father infused to Him the gift of charity.
The gospel speaks to us about Joseph who has already set plans to abandon Mary discretely but He was told by the Angel not to be afraid to take Mary as His wife because the Baby in her womb is from the Holy Spirit. He was reminded of what charity is all about. Think about Jesus and others before you think about yourself. Charity is inviting Joseph to follow the will of God. It needs self denial and total abandonment before the Lord. It requires self- sacrifice.
During the height of pandemic, we have fulfilled the Holy Father’s exhortation “we have to go outside of ourselves in order to find others. We heard about front liners who died while looking after the sick. Priests were infected by the virus and eventually died because of the call of duty. People are cheering the front liners. We have organized a phone call group to reach out to our parishioners. Many had volunteered to look after the needs especially the homebound and vulnerable. How many times did we deliver items for the food bank? We did a lot of great things during those times. We did a good job for our community.
Dynamism of charity is not merely doing good for others. It is our obedience to the Father as He told us to love our neighbours. We give because we see the face of Jesus in these types of people. We voluntarily share because our hearts were being crushed every time we learn people crying out for help. This is the Pope’s idea of an open world. Caritas that promotes integral human development so that people in the worst off and most disadvantaged communities are free to flourish and live in peace and dignity. We work to ensure that our natural environment is managed responsibly and sustainably in the interests of the entire human family.