![]() It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Through this close link with truth, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. This is a matter of no small account today, in a social and cultural context which relativizes truth, often paying little heed to it and showing increasing reluctance to acknowledge its existence.ģ. In this way, not only do we do a service to charity enlightened by truth, but we also help give credibility to truth, demonstrating its persuasive and authenticating power in the practical setting of social living. Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the “economy” of charity, but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practised in the light of truth. Hence the need to link charity with truth not only in the sequence, pointed out by Saint Paul, of veritas in caritate (Eph 4:15), but also in the inverse and complementary sequence of caritas in veritate. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields - the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger - it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility. I am aware of the ways in which charity has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” ( Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Love - caritas - is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity.
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