18.11.2018
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

All the CAs of the world commit themselves not to let squander this grace-filled opportunity.

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from the MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

(2) Psalm 34 uses three verbs to describe the poor man in his relationship with God. First of all, “to cry”. Poverty cannot be summed up in a word; it becomes a cry that rises to heaven and reaches God.

(3) The second verb is “to answer”. The Psalmist tells us that the Lord does not only listen to the cry of the poor, but responds.

(4) The third verb is “to free”. In the Bible, the poor live in the certainty that God intervenes on their behalf to restore their dignity.

(6) … On this World Day, we are asked to fulfil the words of the Psalm: “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied” (Ps 22:26) …I would like this year’s, and all future World Days, to be celebrated in a spirit of joy at the rediscovery of our capacity for togetherness. Praying together as a community and sharing a meal on Sunday is an experience that brings us back to the earliest Christian community …(At 2,42.44-45).

(10) I invite my brother bishops, priests, and especially deacons, who have received the laying on of hands for the service of the poor (cf. Acts 6:1-7), as well as religious and all those lay faithful – men and women – who in parishes, associations and ecclesial movements make tangible the Church’s response to the cry of the poor, to experience this World Day as a privileged moment of new evangelization. The poor evangelize us and help us each day to discover the beauty of the Gospel. Let us not squander this grace-filled opportunity. On this day, may all of us feel that we are in debt to the poor, because, in hands outstretched to one another, a salvific encounter can take place to strengthen our faith, inspire our charity and enable our hope to advance securely on our path towards the Lord who is to come.
Message

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• First World Day of the Poor (19 November 2017)