In his message for the seventh World Day of the Poor, Francis exhorts not to take our eyes off those who are in difficulty, such as children living in war zones, those who cannot make ends meet.
DIARY OF HUILA, REFLECTIONS
Those who are exploited at work and the young prisoners of a culture that makes them feel like failures: they are all our neighbors, we need a serious and effective political and legislative commitment.
The look of a poor man changes the course of the life of those who cross his path, but we must have the courage to stay in those eyes and then act helping, not according to our needs or our desire to get rid of the superfluous, but according to what the other needs. This is the concept that underlies the Pope’s Message for the seventh World Day of the Poor, on November 19, “a fruitful sign,” Francis writes, “of the Father’s mercy.” The text has been released this Tuesday, June 13.
In the Message on the theme “Do not turn your face away from the poor”, in reference to the Book of Tobias, the Pope offers an interpretation of reality that starts from recognizing in the most fragile “the face of the Lord Jesus”, beyond color skin, social condition and origin. In him there is a brother that must be found, “shaking off the indifference and banality with which we shield an illusory well-being.”
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The reality in which we live, underlines the Pope, is marked by the excessive volume of the call to opulence and, therefore, by the silencing of the voices of the poor. “There is a tendency to neglect everything that is not part of the life models intended above all for the younger generations, who are the most fragile in the face of the ongoing cultural change,” the Holy Father writes, adding:
«What is unpleasant and causes suffering is put in brackets, while physical qualities are exalted, as if they were the main goal to be achieved. Virtual reality takes over real life and the two worlds become more and more easily confused.
«The poor», writes the Bishop of Rome, «become images that can move us for a few moments, but when they meet in the flesh on the street, then annoyance and marginalization intervene». However, the parable of the good Samaritan, underlines Francis, challenges the present. «Delegating to others is easy; Offering money for others to do charity is a generous gesture; the vocation of every Christian is to get involved in the first person”, says the Pontiff.
Acting against ineffective policies
Recalling paragraph 6 of John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris, written 60 years ago, the Pontiff recalls that there is still much work to be done to ensure a dignified life for many, so that those words of Pope Roncalli come true, “through of a serious and effective political and legislative commitment”.
Francis hopes for the development of “the solidarity and subsidiarity of so many citizens who believe in the value of the voluntary commitment to give to the poor, despite the limits and sometimes the deficiencies of politics in seeing and serving the common good.” In short, the Holy Father asks not to sit idly by, hoping to receive something “from on high.” “Those who live in conditions of poverty must also be involved and accompanied in a process of change and responsibility,” writes Bergoglio.
The new poverties
In Francis’ text, the gaze is broadened to the new poor. Remember the children who are living in a difficult present and see their future jeopardized by the war. “No one will ever be able to get used to this situation,” he observes; let us keep alive each attempt so that peace is affirmed as a gift of the Risen Lord and the fruit of the commitment to justice and dialogue”.
At the heart of the Pope are also those who, faced with the “dramatic increase in costs” are forced to choose between food or medicine, hence the invitation to raise their voices to guarantee the right to both goods, “in the name of of the dignity of the human person”.
Inhuman work and “frustrated” young people
Thus, he also thinks of children, families, but also workers forced to inhuman treatment with insufficient salary or the weight of precariousness, or “the excessive victims of accidents, often caused by a mentality that prefers immediate benefit at the expense of security. Likewise, there is great concern for young people: “How many frustrated lives and even suicides of young people, deceived by a culture that leads them to feel ‘incomplete’ and ‘failed'”, he exclaims.
“Let us help them to react to these disastrous incitements, so that each one can find the path to follow to acquire a strong and generous identity”, is Francis’ invitation.