Pope Francis has called on Christians around the world to serve the poor with concrete actions that address their daily needs, as the Church prepares to mark the “World Day of the Poor.”
In a message for the new Special Day to be celebrated on November 19 this year, the Pope made a short but poetic and powerful scriptural argument for why Christians must reach out and care for those experiencing poverty. He at the same time puts forward three new ways Christians can be seen as blessed, in the style of Jesus’ beatitudes.
“Blessed … are the open hands that embrace the poor and help them: they are hands that bring hope,” he says. “Blessed are the hands that reach beyond every barrier of culture, religion and nationality, and pour the balm of consolation over the wounds of humanity.”
“Blessed are the open hands that ask nothing in exchange, with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ or ‘maybes:’ they are hands that call down God’s blessing upon their brothers and sisters,” he continues.
“These words of the Apostle John voice an imperative that no Christian may disregard,” the Pope opens his message. “The seriousness with which the ‘beloved disciple’ hands down Jesus’ command to our own day is made even clearer by the contrast between the empty words so frequently on our lips and the concrete deeds against which we are called to measure ourselves.”
Pope Francis’ message for the first World Day of the Poor has been given the title “Let us love, not with words but with deeds” which is taken from John’s first Letter, in which the Apostle tells the Christian community of his time: “Let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth.”
Citing the examples given in the Acts of the Apostles and in several of the Letters in the New Testament, Pope Francis says service of the poor was “one of the first signs of the entrance of the Christian community upon the world’s stage.”
He noted that “It is my wish that in the week preceding the “World Day of the Poor,” on 19 November, the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Christian communities will make every effort to create moments of encounter and friendship, solidarity and concrete assistance.”
The Pope asked Christians to invite the poor and volunteers to take part together in the Eucharist on this Sunday, in such a way that there be an even more authentic celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on the following Sunday.
He added: “This Sunday, if there are poor people where we live who seek protection and assistance, let us draw close to them: it will be a favourable moment to encounter the God we seek.”
He said following the teaching of Scripture (cf. Gen 18:3-5; Heb 13:2), “let us welcome them as honoured guests at our table; they can be teachers who help us live the faith more consistently. With their trust and readiness to receive help, they show us in a quiet and often joyful way, how essential it is to live simply and to abandon ourselves to God’s providence.”
The Pope also reminded Catholics that they believe Christ is found in every human person. “If we truly wish to encounter Christ, we have to touch His body in the suffering bodies of the poor, as a response to the sacramental communion bestowed in the Eucharist,” states Pope Francis.
“The Body of Christ, broken in the Sacred Liturgy, can be seen, through charity and sharing, in the faces and persons of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters,” the Holy said,
The World Day of the Poor is a new celebration on the Catholic calendar. It was created by Pope Francis in his Document: Misericordia et Misera, at the end of the 2015-16 “Jubilee Years for Mercy”. The Pope asked that Catholics celebrate the special day every year on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, which usually falls in November.
