The Christian logic of sharing

The Church in Malta holds its annual Charity Day collection tomorrow. This is an appeal for generosity in aid of the homeless children, young people and others without a family to take care of them, victims of drug addiction, persons with disabilities, old people and refugees being sheltered and cared for in Church homes.

Such calls to believers and supporters are rooted in the special place the afflicted have in the Church’s heart.

The Church has always been a pioneer in the field of charity and solidarity and definitely wants to continue to be so. However, to be able to reach out properly and in good time to people seeking its caring assistance, the Church needs the continued big-hearted support of its members.

The theme of the Charity Day appeal is: Charity Makes You Free. It springs from the Church’s vision and mission statement in responding to the needs of the less fortunate.

One great model of Christian sharing is St Martin, Bishop of Tours, a French Samaritan who is one of the most celebrated and venerated saints of Europe.

Born of pagan parents in Pannonia, in what is today Hungary, around the year 316 he was directed by his father to a military career. He became Christian in his 20s and, in his remaining long time in the army, Martin gave testimony of his new lifestyle: respectful and inclusive of all.

During his soldier years, Martin met a poor man on the street in Amiens, numb and trembling from the cold. He took his own cloak and, cutting it in two with his sword, gave half to that man.

Martin later became a monk and then a bishop. From that time, he dedicated himself with ardent zeal to the evangelisation of the countryside and the formation of the clergy. He had a remarkable sense of simplicity and humility, which continued to shine in him through­out all his life and until his death in 397.

In following Christ, men of St Martin’s calibre are aware that their way has to pass through many forms of service to one’s neighbour. In persons like him one recognises the example of a Christian totally given to the service of his neighbor.

Pope Benedict XVI describes St Martin’s gesture in Amiens as flowing from the same logic that drove Jesus to multiply the loaves for the hungry crowd. It is the logic of sharing which he used to authentically explain love of neighbour.

Martin’s example, the Holy Father notes, helps us understand that only by means of a common commitment to sharing does it become possible to respond to the great challenge of our times: to build communities of peace and justice where each person can live with dignity.

On an international level, this can be achieved if a world model of authentic solidarity prevails that assures to all inhabitants of the planet food, water, necessary medical treatment and also work and energy resources as well as cultural benefits, scientific and technological knowledge.

In today’s society, we come face to face with many forms of modern poverty, sadness and affliction. Sometimes, in a person’s life there might also be a moment when life no longer seems to be a gift from God but a burden. It is then that the beatitude of those who mourn takes on its full meaning.

A society is judged on the manner it treats those afflicted by life and the attitude adopted towards them; more so a Christian community.

Every person wounded in body or in spirit, every person deprived of the most elementary rights is a living image of Christ. The attention Christians give to the poor and the marginal is one of the major criteria of belonging to Christ.

In order to recognise Christ present in each of human beings in need of understanding, love and solidarity, we have to be able to see this presence in interior recollection.

The Gospel expects us to respond to our neighbour’s needs and to share with others whatever we possess through divine goodness. In this way, inward cleansing is accompanied by a gesture of ecclesial communion, mirroring what already took place in the early Church.

According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess. These, then, are not to be considered as our exclusive possession but as means through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward of His providence for our neighbour.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that material goods bear a social value, according to the principle of their uni­versal destination.