You are familiar with today’s Mass, especially the Epistle. "If I speak in the tongues of angels but have not charity, I am nothing." It is called the Hymn to Charity. You see, we have national anthems, and this is a hymn to charity.

Charity is the total opposite of selfishness. In charity, one does not look at oneself. And there is a moment where it says charity believes all things, endures all things, forgets all things. Charity does not gaze upon itself. It looks over there—at the chapel over there—to see: do they need help? That is charity. It looks at others.

Just as the friends came, they looked at this priest over there. Does he need help? For thirteen years they have been in this spirit, because he needs help. That is charity. Is help needed for the Mass? Preparing the altar, vesting the altar boys to sing? Is there a need for help? That is charity.

Charity is not content with merely being present, like I said yesterday—like a post, a prie-dieu, or a chair. You see the wall; it does not know if there is a need for help. Nor does the chair, nor the prie-dieu. But we are not a wall, a chair, or a prie-dieu. We must all ask ourselves: "Is there a need for help where I am going to church? Do they need my help? Can I lend a hand?" Anyone, as they are, can lend a hand. One must not say, "No, I can do nothing." Who told you that? Ask, "Can I lend a hand?" Perhaps the answer is no, perhaps it is yes, but ask: "Is there still something to be done? Is there still something to arrange?"

That is charity. It is not asking, "Is there still something to eat? Is there still something to drink?" Ah, that is not charity.

Of course, strangers who are invited have been charitable in saying, "I was invited, I will go." But those who organize, those who belong to the house—what is done there is primarily for those coming from the outside. As I say, as a priest, I do not need a chapel of seven years; everything is fine, the prie-dieus, the altar boys—I do not need them. It is for those who come. I think of those people who must sit down. In our country, there is sun, there is rain. They will come with children; there will be boys who can serve the Mass. One must think of supporting them, providing surplices. You see the different colors—yesterday was not this color—one must think of all that. But it is not for me. When we speak of the next generation, we must think that tomorrow we depart; who will continue? I will be gone, but it continues. Tomorrow we will depart. Will it continue? That is charity.

St. Paul is clear: you can have all the qualities you desire, but if you have not charity, it serves nothing. You can speak all the languages of the world; if you have not charity, it serves nothing. You can have the gift of prophecy; if you have not charity, it serves nothing. You can have all the diplomas in the entire world; if you have not charity, it serves nothing.

You can give your money to feed the poor, for people in the hospital, all of that—but if you have no charity, it serves nothing. This means that you can help others, but it is not necessarily charity. You might help others while still thinking only of yourself. It is for your own interest that you do it because you are an elected official—see, you want people to vote for you, so you go to help others. But it is so that they vote. In return, they must vote. That is not charity. Charity does not look backward. It does not look back at itself. I do not do this because you will vote for me. No, charity does not look back.

Charity is a form of love. But you know, there are two types of love. There is the love of "I love chocolate, I love wine, I love Coca-Cola." Why? Because I derive a profit from it. "I love money." Why? Because I derive a profit from it. With money, I can do many things: buy a car, a house, pay for the children's schooling, and so on.

Sometimes parents must be careful: children are not an investment from which you expect a return. That is not charity. It is still a kind of love, but it is not the love of charity. "My children will do well in school, I will really invest, I pay for private school... because there will be a return on investment." No, that is not charity, because you are seeking yourself. Through the success of your children, you are seeking yourself. That is not charity.

It is like the priest; he should not be there to preach to people just so they will give to the collection or send him phone credit. That is not charity. If one seeks oneself—preaching so that they will help me—it is not charity. Performing miracles and then advertising them... that is not charity. I can perform miracles, but if it is for my own glory, so that the world speaks well of me—"Oh, such and such a pastor is strong, he is a firebrand"—that is not charity. It is like the politicians who help people so that they are voted for. That is not charity because they return to themselves; they do it for themselves. When they are elected, they are the ones who are deputies and senators; they are the ones who go to the palace. It is not the people who elected them, it is they who profit. That is not charity.

Charity is this: I give without hope of return. I do not look for the return. That is charity. Remember when Jesus healed the ten lepers; only one returned. But Jesus is not like us. He knew very well that only one would return. They were ten. He healed them all. But He knew that only one would return—and a stranger at that. He healed them all because He does not look for the return. He does not look to see if they will be grateful or ungrateful. No, He does not look at that. He is not selfish. He looks at their need, and He heals them all because they all needed to be healed. He doesn't look to see if you will come back or not.

If you are "one of us" and you love us only because you are one of us, that is not charity. You are Gabonese, and you love a Gabonese as yourself—that is not charity. Charity is because of God. Why do you love? Why do you love Coca-Cola? "Because it gives me a good sensation." Why do you love "one of your own"? "Because he is one of us." But that is not charity. One must say, "I love him because of God." That is charity. We love because of God.

And that is why in charity there is no selfishness, because God is for everyone. Whether one is "one of us," or whether one is Gabonese, it has no importance. God is with everyone. He is with the Fangs, He is with the Gabonese, the Nigerians—He is with everyone. And you see, that is why these stories of black and white are not charity either. In charity, one does not look at whether a person is white or black; God is not in those distinctions. God is neither white nor black; He is with everyone. That is charity; one looks at nothing else.

And that is why we are told this charity is patient, it is helpful; it serves others because it looks at God. What does God do? The sun that gives us light—that is God. But why? Is it for Himself? Every day He gives the sun to everyone. White, black, small, great, woman, man. The good and the bad—He gives them the sun. That is charity. We do not look at whether you are my friend or not my friend. If you hate me or do not hate me, I look at God. It is because of God that I do it.

So you see, let us not confuse the love of charity with other loves. Those are loves that can be beautiful or bad, but charity is truly because of God. When we ask, "Why do you love?" your answer should be: "Because of God." You aren't going to say "because it's my child" or "because it's my husband." I am not saying those are bad or good, but I am saying that is not charity. When you love your husband because he is your husband, that is not charity. "I love him because of God." It is true he is my husband, but I love him first because of God. It is true we are all Gabonese, but I love you first because of God. Not first because we are Gabonese, but first because of God.

And we understand then why charity can never end. Why would it end? Will there ever be a valid reason to say, "I no longer love you because of God"? There is no reason. It cannot stop. Charity will never pass away. We could never say, "Well no, it is no longer because of God that I love you." No, we will never have a reason to do that.

And you see, that is how God loves us. It is because of Himself. And that is why people sometimes say, "But God, He is so great—how can He be preoccupied with people like us, nobodies?" But that is charity. He does not do it because of us; He does it for Himself. That is charity—even if you are very powerful or a billionaire, you look at others, not so they vote for you or say you are good, but because of God. Since it is because of God, it removes all barriers, all differences; all that no longer matters because it is because of God.

I think that is the spirit of this fellowship—it is through this charity that distance and everything else lose their importance. It is because of God that we want to do this. We remember that he was not even a priest yet. He came—but why did he come to the camp for two weeks to look after us? Because of what? It was not because of us. It was not because of money. He was not paid. It was because of God. It is the same logic. Distance or whatever else does not matter. We want to do this because of God. And that is precisely why we have no reason to stop. My friends, you must continue if it is because of God. God is always there; He will never disappear. So it continues.

And you see, that is normally what the priesthood is. Why does one become a priest? It is not to please one's father or mother or whoever—it is for God. And so it does not stop. We do not look at who comes—whether it is a child or an adult, whether he is rich or not rich—it has no importance. We do it for God.

He says, "I don't need all that." When I returned, I stayed in my corner, but because of God, people wanted to attend there... what did I have? I had nothing. Still nothing—for God. So, I am obliged, as they have come. Why did they come? God brought them, knowing there was nothing here. Why do they come?

And that is how things are done little by little, despite all the difficulties, despite the fact that we still lack this or .., but we continue to do it. Why? Because it is because of God. If it were not because of God, we should have stopped all this a long time ago. Why would we undergo all this? For what reason, if it were not for God? Charity is patient, it is kind. It serves because of that. We accept all the distances you travel. Why? It is because of God, that is all. There is no other reason.

So, this is what we shall ask of the Good Lord: to keep us in this charity, to do things for His sake. That is why we shall not be discouraged. But when we do things because of God, it is not easy. One must suffer. We will be criticized and so on. Well, that is normal, because it is because of God. That is exactly what drives it, because it is for God. People do not like that. People do not like it when we do things for God’s sake. They want us to do it for other reasons, but not for God. It disturbs them. So there is no reason to be surprised if, because we want to do things for God, we are opposed. There are difficulties—that is normal.

And that is what we are going to sing in the Creed. You know it: Jesus is God. What does He come to do on earth? It is for God. That is all. He gains nothing from it. It is for God. We are going to sing that He came to earth for us, for our salvation. He died on the Cross to save us, to show us His love. That is all.




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