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Reflection 231   Based on the Vatican II document 
On the Mission Activity of the Church
Ad Gentes  - 12

(Comments welcome here)


The first part of this article is particularly beautiful and always relevant:

"The presence of the Christian faithful in human groups should be inspired by that charity with which God has loved us, and with which He wills that we should love one another. Christian charity truly extends to all, without distinction of race, creed, or social condition: it looks for neither gain nor gratitude.

For as God loved us with an unselfish love, so also the faithful should in their charity care for the human person himself, loving him with the same affection with which God sought us out.

Just as Jesus went about all the towns and villages, curing every kind of disease and infirmity as a sign that the kingdom of God had come, so also the Church, through her children, is one with people of every condition, but especially with the poor and the afflicted. For them, she gladly spends and is spent, sharing in their joys and sorrows, knowing of their longings and problems, suffering with them in death's anxieties. To those in quest of peace, she wishes to answer in fraternal dialogue, bearing them the peace and the light of the Gospel.

Jesus, please help Christians to reach out to others just as you reached out to the people of your time