The Call...

Jesus Christ was born poor, lived poor, and died poor. He loved the poor. In His kingdom the poor have a special place. The Church cannot be any different. She must be ever more fully aware of her fundamental duty to reflect in her life and action the very love with which God loves His creatures. For what is at stake is the mystery of God’s love as explained in the First Letter of John: "We, for our part, love because He first loved us” (1Io. 4, 19). All service has its first moment in God. ... Service to the needy not only builds up social harmony, it reveals God, our Father, the Rescuer of the oppressed. In the Old Testament it was God’s love for his people that decreed a special concern, for the stranger, the widow and the orphan. As God had treated His people, so were they to treat others.   John Paul II Catholic Charities, 1987.