Caritas Spirituality

  1. What is spirituality?

Spirituality is the path in the inner life that leads people to a life of rich meaning and full happiness. Spirituality crystallizes the wise teachings and valuable spiritual experiences accumulated and passed down by sages for generations. Thanks to that, when living according to spirituality, people are opened and opened their minds on the way to find Truth, Goodness and Beauty. They draw from it the sacred force that governs all activities in their lives. Spirituality is often taught and practiced by religions.

2. Christian spirituality

Christian spirituality is based on the teachings and life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, true God and true man. Jesus is the "visible face of the invisible Father", "the Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:6), leading humanity to God the Father.

A Christian is someone who follows Christian spirituality, that is, follows Jesus Christ, becomes 'in the same shape' with Him, shares His very life. The vocation and mission of Christians is to be disciples of Jesus, to be His witnesses to the world.

Despite following Jesus, throughout the history of the Church, there have been saints, religious orders, etc. who have outlined 'paths to holiness' with different emphases. People also call these paths 'spirituality'.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, those who follow such spiritualities want to express a particular aspect of Christ. Each spirituality is a direction, a unique way of life, to bring the sublime values ​​of the Gospel to penetrate and transform from within different cultural, economic, political, social, and geographical contexts.

The Holy Spirit always preserves, guides and renews the Church in its journey of faith on earth.

All Christians, through the sacrament of Baptism, are invited to carry out the mission of the Church. Therefore, no matter what spirituality you follow, living "spirituality" must mean 'living by the Spirit' (Rom 8:4) and living in communion with the Church. That means, they must live by faith, practice love of God and love of neighbor following the example of Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They must be taught by the Church, Mother and Teacher, with teachings and nourished with the grace of the sacraments and the Word of God.

3. Caritas spirituality

‘Caritas’ is Latin, meaning: charity, great love. Caritas is an organization within the Catholic Church whose mission is to coordinate and promote the practice of social charity. Therefore, Caritas is not a purely social charity agency, and Caritas members do not do charity work with the same motivation and intention or manner as a social worker. Like all activities of the Church, Caritas activities must be motivated by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Caritas has a 'spirituality' to guide the lives of social charity workers.To live "Caritas spirituality" is to live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who makes them participate faithfully and confidently in Christ's mission of loving everyone, especially the poor, the sick, the abandoned. The Word of God, the Church's tradition and teachings on charity are the source of Caritas spirituality.

4. Caritas Vietnam spirituality

As Vietnamese people, we inherit a national ethical tradition that emphasizes filial piety, family love, neighborly love, love for fellow countrymen, mutual love, 'good leaves cover torn leaves', respect for harmony, and community activities. Caritas members respectfully preserve those cultural features and make them more beautiful by living their spirituality. Caritas spirituality shows everyone the path to holiness by, through the light and power of the Holy Spirit, living and becoming the embodiment of the love of the Trinity in Vietnamese society today.

The foundation of this spirituality is the love of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "God is Love. Everything originates from God's love, everything is shaped by that love, and everything is directed toward that love."  To understand God's love, Caritas Vietnam members are invited to contemplate and imitate Jesus Christ, the Embodiment of God's Love on earth. In Him, we realize:

An Incarnate God is always ready to come out of himself:

-    ready to humble and destroy myself,

-    identify yourself with the lowly,

-    so that humans can become children of God;

One God in Communion:

-    be one with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

-    “sacrifice yourself, tear down the dividing wall of hatred” (Eph 2:14),

-    to gather humanity into God's family;

A God of Love decided to become poor:

-    close to sinners and the needy,

-    sacrifice himself to death on the cross,

-    so that all people may “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

It is very important that members live in union with Jesus Christ, especially, meeting Him in the Eucharist, so that He can renew their hearts and motivate them to be messengers of love and witnesses of His Gospel. Caritas members work to open the Kingdom of God everywhere and for everyone, but the people Caritas serves especially are the poor, poor in material and spirit. Charity in Caritas, inheriting the tradition of practicing charity and based on the social doctrine of the Church, is organized charity within the structure of the local Church as well as the global Church.