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Comment of Archbishop Cordes on Lenten
Message for the year 2003
This unwritten saying of Christ, not found in the four Gospels, which
we find in the Acts of the Apostles, reported by St Paul, the Apostle of
the Gentiles, seems to have won universal approval—at
least, as we look around us today. The market of philanthropic
institutions is booming. All have on their masthead the duty to give to
neighbour. Today no commandment of Sacred Scripture has had such impact
from the pedagogical point of view as the appeal: "Do not be
indifferent to a brother in need; take care of your sister in need. Give
them what they ask for".
Charitable giving is fashionable
Hence multinationals invest in charitable activities. An
international airline recommends its Help-Agency on intercontinental
flights; poor children are shown on the monitor, then envelopes are
distributed for a collection and the flight-attendants collect these
lukewarm donations as passengers leave the plane. Everywhere we come
across generous benefactors for noble causes—for
example, on flights to Asia one finds the foundation for the "AIDS
Orphans of Thailand". In Hochiminhville, the principal city in the
south of the Communist country of Vietnam, I was recently greeted at the
airport by a sign which, with the Christian word charity, invited
me to support the poor. Being sponsors of a charity with the use of its
own logo is now part of the daily work of marketing strategy. Ministers
for international cooperation proudly show the high percentage of
development aid in their governments' budgets. Bingos and charity galas
with actors, sports champions or politicians are commonplace items
everywhere.
The word of Jesus about not giving for publicity is forgotten
Do these widespread set of good deeds prove that Jesus' words have
been accepted around the world and that it is now unnecessary to stress
them today? Upon closer examination, we realize that those on the
receiving end as well as the donors may have different purposes in their
"altruistic" activities. The plethora of appeals for
humanitarian aid can water down crucial aspects of Jesus' invitation as,
for example, if the appeals hardly conceal the intention to improve the
image of the person or that of his company.
In a world in which giving has become fashionable, one can attain
glory and greatness with donations—only
if Jesus words "when you give alms, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing" (Mt 6,3), are deliberately ignored.
The philanthropic atmosphere even makes it possible to make a business
of solidarity; then over and above charitable purposes, there is always
a chance for those who manage the charity to subtract a substantial sum
for their own needs. The democratic state therefore rightly imposes
conditions before it will permit an agency to be designated as a
humanitarian institution. In other regions, some shamelessly take
advantage of their authority and get rich with the money that was
destined for the poor. An example of this recently came to my attention.
A national Caritas group wanted to carry out a million-dollar
project in a socialist country. The state was not ashamed about
pocketing $650,000 "for personnel and administrative
expenses". This kind of robbery strongly contradicts our sense of
justice and confirms the need to reflect at great length on the meaning
of Jesus' words.
Giving for self-interest
Think of the way in which a third-century Roman citizen, Julius
Paulus, understood what it was to give. He coined the phrase: "Do
ut des"—"I give so that
you will give to me; I give so that you will do something for me".
Julius Paulus was an expert in law. With this phrase he wanted to sum up
the reciprocity of contracts. But the attitude of the: "I give so
that you give to me" does not just regard contractual law. It is
also current in daily life—sometimes
openly, sometimes more hiddenly. It is fostered by the economic models
now in vogue that have the stamp of the economic liberalism of Adam
Smith (d. 1790), who held that the individual's self-interest is the
principal engine of the economy. The one who gives with this attitude
takes as his objective what they get in return and their own advantage
from having given. This expectation is not far from the analysis of
giving and donating that is found in the French philosopher Jean Paul
Sartre. In his work L'être et le néant (1943 - Being
and Nothing), he conceives of giving as a sequence of
events. According to Sartre, giving would not have its motivation in
friendship, love, compassion or in the will to alleviate the suffering
of others. Nor would it, for this French philosopher, be an expression
of generosity. He claims that it would be used in human relationships
just to subjugate the person who faces me. Indeed, for Sartre the gift
involves whoever receives it, puts him under obligation and subjugates
him. Giving is a concealed manoeuvre of self-interest to imprison one's
neighbour.
Need to hear the word of Jesus on the blessedness of pure giving
The word of Jesus that this year Pope John Paul II teaches in his
Lenten Message therefore contains a necessary invitation and orientation
for our time. "It is more blessed to give than to receive".
Despite the popularity of giving, this phrase formulates a new
exhortation and imposes clear limits. Thus it soon leads us beyond any
superficial understanding. It does not only confirm the readiness to
help, which in itself is right and just, but offers clear guidance to
Christians.
Certainly, the Christian has a heart. He is glad to share with the
needy, just as the Samaritan is moved by compassion and takes money out
of his wallet (cf. Lk 10,32ff.). Before the state and society ever found
out that it was their duty to provide assistance to the poor, the Church
had taken upon herself the burden of those who suffer: the martyrdom of
St Lawrence is an eloquent witness, and so is the bitter observation of
the Emperor Julian the Apostate (d. 363) who, after his rejection of
Christianity, angrily exclaimed: "The atheist Galileans feed our
own poor as well as their own". But the philosopher Hegel, on his
way towards a full understanding of Jesus' commandment, leads us
beyond benevolence: "The true essence of love consists in
abandoning one's self-consciousness, forgetting oneself in another Self,
and yet, possessing oneself while setting oneself aside and forgetting
oneself".
Christian forms of total self giving that last a life time
This line of thought one can help us discover the depth of Jesus'
word. The Holy Father in his Message lists these existential forms of
giving: "Men and women who, leaving all security behind, have not
hesitated to risk their lives as missionaries in different parts of the
world ... young people who, prompted by faith, have embraced a vocation
to the priesthood or the religious life in order to serve God's plan of
salvation" (n. 5).
In my visits representing John Paul II, I have often met these
pioneers: the members of the Communion and Liberation Movement, who for
years have worked in Uganda; the members of the Sant'Egidio community
who in Mozambique are at the service of peace; the Focolarini,
for example, in Thailand, or in their discreet mission in those
Asian countries that are not free; families on the mission with the Neo-Catechumenical
Way who offer hope in the slums of the great cities and fraternal help
to families that are in difficulty. In this list of witnesses, I do not
want to forget the thousands of men and women religious who risk their
lives everywhere in the service of the Gospel.
All these men and women not only intervene with words in the
humanitarian field—however
important this may be. They not only organize and finance material aid—that
is an indispensable contribution for facing the poverty and misery of
their world. Instead, they make themselves instruments for the other—in
the meaning that today's Lenten Message gives to charity, in which the
Holy Father describes the highest form of availability for those who
suffer as a "free gift of self to others".
Today it is not only those who are absent who remind us of this gift
of self.
Among others the example of Fr Benzi
We have invited a man who has practised it for years and has
attracted many supporters: Father Oreste Benzi, who can give his
witness. He is the founder of the "Pope John XXIII
Association". In 1968, with several other priests, Don Benzi began
to gather young people and people who were materially or psychologically
poor and look after them. He has founded 186 centres throughout the
world in which so-called "normal" families live side-by-side
with prostitutes, drug addicts and the physically and mentally disabled.
He does not consider himself an "expert in the sector of
charity". He is a simple man who is changing the world by 180
degrees. His motto is: "Young people don't need something but some
one".
Pope urges a more evangelical way of giving to others
Thus the Lenten Message is more than an incentive to collect funds;
more than a moral appeal to share. It reveals to the many possiblities
of giving in their wholeness and aims to gather spiritual fruits. In the
way we plan our lives, so steeped in the ideas of the society of the
Ego, it sets up in front of us a critical mirror. It reminds us of the
central messages of the Gospel. Let us take hold of them not just with
our own energy and with pedagogical and psychological support, but
because the words of Jesus are also a promise: "It is more blessed
to give than to receive". Like the Beatitudes of the Gospel, Jesus'
words give guidance, but his grace, at the same time, makes it possible
for us to live them.
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