"Charity, by bringing us close to the others, brings us closer to God and can become a means of true conversion and reconciliation with Him and our brothers". This is the belief of the Pope, according to whom "every time, for the love of God, we share our goods with our needy neighbours, we experience that the fullness of life comes from love and everything comes back to us as a blessing in the form of peace, inner contentment and joy". This is because charity teaches one the generosity of love", comments the Pope, quoting the example of Saint Giuseppe Cottolengo". From this perspective, writes Benedict XVI, "when the Christian freely offers himself up, he testifies that it is not the material riches that set out the laws of life, but it is love. What gives value to charity, then, is love, which inspires different forms of giving, according to everyone’s means and condition". Lent, therefore, "partly through the practice of charity, drives us to follow" the example of Jesus, at whose "school" we can "learn to turn our life into a total gift", making us willing "not so much to give something of what we own, but to give ourselves". Lent, concludes the Pope, "invites us to get spiritually ‘trained’, partly through the practice of charity, to grow in love and recognise Christ in the poor".
