There will always be people in need

Remember that, whatever the circumstances of the country, we will always be able to practise this affectionate charity: pauperes enim semper habetis vobiscum (John 12:8). There will always be poor people, there will always be some people who are more needy, even if the majority of the people have a minimum of material well-being. They will be happy to receive a small gift out of the ordinary, something they cannot normally afford. It becomes, in a special way, the means by which they experience a bit of kindness and fraternal companionship.

I would dare to say that precisely when the social circumstances seem to have banished want, poverty or suffering, then more than ever is required that sharp-sightedness of Christian charity, which can identify where there is a need for consolation in the midst of an apparently universal well-being.

Social remedies do not supplant personal charity

Social remedies for the plagues of suffering and want have been developed in our days that make it possible to achieve humanitarian results undreamt of in former times. But they can never replace the human and supernatural affection shown by direct, personal contact with our neighbour. Those social remedies are on an entirely different plane. With our human and supernatural affection we go out to that poor person who lives nearby, or to that sick person who lives his suffering in a huge hospital, or to that other person who may be wealthy but needs a bit of affectionate conversation and Christian friendship to ease his loneliness, a spiritual shelter that heals his doubts and his scepticism.

Perhaps this will not be understood in circles where a materialistic outlook prevails. Hence you need to understand what I was saying before, that to appreciate this point requires a minimum of interior life, of Christian outlook, of love of God and neighbour.