MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS FOR THE VI WORLD DAY OF THE POOR 2022
November 13, 2022, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Jesus Christ became poor for you” (cf. 2 Cor 8,9)
1. “Jesus Christ became poor for you” (cf. 2 Cor 8,9). With these words the apostle Paul addresses the first Christians in Corinth, to give a foundation to his commitment to solidarity with his brothers in need. The World Day of the Poor is also presented this year as a healthy provocation to help us reflect on our lifestyle and on so many poverties of the present moment.
A few months ago, the world was emerging from the storm of the pandemic, showing signs of economic recovery that would bring relief to millions of people impoverished by job losses. There was a glimpse of serenity that, without forgetting the pain for the loss of loved ones, promised to finally be able to return to direct interpersonal relationships, to meet again without limitations or restrictions. And it is then that a new catastrophe has appeared on the horizon, destined to impose a different scenario on the world.
The war in the Ukraine came to add to the regional wars that in these years are bringing death and destruction. But here the picture is more complex due to the direct intervention of a “superpower”, which seeks to impose its will against the principle of self-determination of peoples. Scenes of tragic memory are repeated and once again the reciprocal blackmail of some powerful silences the voice of humanity that calls for peace.
2. How many poor people the senselessness of war generates! Wherever you look, you see how violence affects the defenseless and the weakest. Deportation of thousands of people, especially boys and girls, to uproot them and impose another identity on them. The words of the Psalmist before the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the young Hebrews become current: «Next to the rivers of Babylon / we sat down to cry, / remembering Zion. / In the willows on the banks / we had hung our zithers. / There our jailers / asked us for songs, / and our oppressors, joy. / How could we sing a song of the Lord / in a foreign land?» (Ps 137,1-4).
There are millions of women, children, and the elderly forced to defy the danger of the bombs in order to be safe, seeking refuge as refugees in neighboring countries. Those who remain in the conflict zones live every day with fear and the lack of food, water, medical care and above all love. In these situations, reason is obscured and those who suffer the consequences are many ordinary people, who add to the already large number of homeless people. How to give an adequate response that brings relief and peace to so many people, left at the mercy of uncertainty and precariousness?
3. The VI World Day of the Poor is framed in this highly contradictory context, with the invitation —taken from the Apostle Paul— to keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, who “being rich, became poor for us, in order to enrich us with his poverty” (2 Co 8,9). On his visit to Jerusalem, Paul had met Peter, James, and John, who had asked him not to forget the poor. The Jerusalem community, in fact, found itself in serious difficulties due to the famine that plagued the country, and the Apostle had immediately taken care of organizing a large collection in favor of the poor. The Corinthian Christians were very sensitive and available. At Pablo’s suggestion, every first day of the week they collected what they had managed to save and they were all very generous.
As if time had not elapsed since that moment, every Sunday, during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, we too perform the same gesture, pooling our offerings so that the community can provide for the needs of the poorest. It is a sign that Christians have always carried out with joy and a sense of responsibility, so that no sister or brother lacks what is necessary. This is already attested by Saint Justin, who, in the second century, explaining the Sunday celebration of the Christians to the Emperor Antony Pius, wrote thus: «On the day called “of the Sun” everyone gathers together, inhabitants of the city or the countryside, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as time permits. Then the fraction and distribution of the elements consecrated to each one is made and through the deacons they are sent to those who are absent. The wealthy and those who wish give freely, each one what he wants and what is collected is deposited with the priest. He helps the orphans, the widows, and those who are destitute due to illness or any other cause, the imprisoned, the foreigners who are among us: in short, he takes care of anyone who is in need” (First Apology , LXVII, 1-6).
4. Returning to the Corinthian community, after the initial enthusiasm, his commitment began to diminish and the initiative proposed by the Apostle lost strength. This is the reason that stimulates Paul to write in a passionate way insisting on the collection, “now bring it to an end, so that the facts respond, according to the possibilities of each one, to the decision of the will” (2 Co 8,11 ).
I am thinking at this moment of the availability that, in recent years, has moved entire populations to open their doors to welcome millions of refugees from the wars in the Middle East, in Central Africa and now in the Ukraine. Families have thrown their houses wide open to make room for other families, and communities have generously welcomed so many women and children to offer them due dignity. However, the longer the conflict lasts, the more its consequences worsen. It is increasingly difficult for the peoples they receive to give continuity to the aid; families and communities begin to feel the weight of a situation that goes beyond the emergency. This is the moment not to give in and to renew the initial motivation. What we have begun needs to be carried out with the same responsibility.
5. Solidarity, in effect, is precisely this: sharing the little we have with those who have nothing, so that no one suffers. The more the sense of community and communion grows as a way of life, the more solidarity develops. On the other hand, it is necessary to consider that there are countries where, in recent decades, there has been a significant increase in well-being for many families, who have achieved a secure state of life. This is a positive result due to private initiative and laws that have supported economic growth articulated with a concrete incentive to family policies and social responsibility. The heritage of security and stability achieved can now be shared with those who have been forced to leave their home and country to save themselves and survive. As members of civil society, let us keep alive the call for the values of freedom, responsibility, fraternity and solidarity. And as Christians we always find in charity, in faith and in hope the foundation of our being and our actions.
6. It is interesting to note that the Apostle does not want to oblige Christians by forcing them into a work of charity. In fact, he writes: “This is not an order” (2 Cor 8,8); rather, he intends to “manifest the sincerity” of his love in his care and concern for the poor (cf. ibid.). The foundation of Paul’s request is certainly the need for concrete help, but his intention goes further. He invites you to take the collection so that it is a sign of love, as Jesus himself has witnessed. In short, generosity towards the poor finds its strongest motivation in the choice of the Son of God who wanted to become poor himself.
The Apostle, in fact, is not afraid to affirm that this choice of Christ, this “stripping” of his, is a “grace”, even more, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 8,9), and only by accepting it can we give concrete and coherent expression to our faith. The teaching of the entire New Testament is unified around this theme, which is also reflected in the words of the Apostle James: “Put the Word into practice and do not be content just to hear it, so that you deceive yourselves. He who hears the Word and does not practice it, looks like a man who looks in the mirror, but immediately leaves and forgets what he is like. On the other hand, he who attentively considers the perfect Law, which sets us free, and becomes fond of it, not as a distracted listener, but as a true keeper of the Law, will be happy to practice it” (Jas 1,22-25). .
7. Facing the poor, there is no rhetoric, but they get down to work and practice faith by directly getting involved, without delegating to anyone. Sometimes, instead, a form of laxity can prevail, leading to inconsistent behavior, such as indifference to the poor. It also happens that some Christians, due to an excessive attachment to money, get bogged down in the misuse of goods and patrimony. They are situations that manifest a weak faith and a feeble and myopic hope.
We know that the problem is not money itself, because it is part of people’s daily life and social relationships. Rather, what we must reflect on is the value that money has for us: it cannot become an absolute, as if it were the main purpose. Such attachment prevents a realistic observation of everyday life and clouds the gaze, preventing us from seeing the needs of others. Nothing more harmful can happen to a Christian and to a community than to be dazzled by the idol of wealth, which ends up chaining to a vision of ephemeral and failed life.
Therefore, it is not about having a welfare behavior towards the poor, as usually happens; it is necessary, instead, to make an effort so that no one lacks what is necessary. It is not activism that saves, but the sincere and generous attention that allows one to approach a poor person like a brother who stretches out his hand so that I can wake up from the lethargy into which I have fallen. For this reason, “no one should say that they stay away from the poor because their life choices imply paying more attention to other matters. This is a frequent excuse in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial environments. No one can feel excepted from concern for the poor and for social justice” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 201). It is urgent to find new paths that can go beyond the framework of those social policies “conceived as a policy towards the poor but never with the poor, never of the poor, much less inserted in a project that reunites the peoples” (Letter enc Fratelli tutti, 169). Instead, it is necessary to tend to assume the attitude of the Apostle who could write to the Corinthians: «It is not about…