On the occasion of the celebration, Sunday 13 November, of the VI World Day of the Poor, the Spanish Episcopal Conference yes caritas unite their efforts again to mobilize Christian communities and the whole of society in the objectives of this annual event convened by the Pope francesco.
The idea of promoting this Day was born on 13 November 2016, during the closing of the Year of Mercy and when the Holy Father celebrated the Jubilee dedicated to the marginalized in St. Peter’s Basilica. At the end of the homily, and spontaneously, Francis expressed a wish: “I would like today to be the Day of the Poor”.
In this sixth edition, under the motto “Jesus Christ made himself poor for you”, Francis invites solidarity in the midst of a world wounded by violence and war. Faced with the millions of refugees from the various conflicts in the Middle East, Central Africa and now in Ukraine, the Holy Father invites us to “share the little we have with those who have nothing, so that no one suffers”.
The legacy of security and stability achieved by some countries thanks to private initiative and the laws that have supported economic growth can now, according to Francisco, “be shared with those who have been forced to leave their homes and countries to save themselves and survive. ” ”. “As members of civil society, we keep alive the call to the values of freedom, responsibility, fraternity and solidarity”, he adds.
a sign of love
The Pope recalls that charity “is not an obligation but a sign of love, as Jesus himself testified”. “Generosity towards the poor finds its strongest motivation in the choice of the Son of God who wanted to make himself poor”, he underlines.
Francis underlines that “the experience of weakness and limitation that we have lived in these years and now the drama of war” should “teach us that we are not in the world to survive, but so that everyone is allowed to have a dignified life.” happy”. “Jesus’ message shows us the way and makes us discover that there is a poverty that humiliates and kills, and there is another poverty, his, that frees us and makes us happy”.
This is why Francis recalls on this VI World Day that it is necessary “to make an effort so that no one lacks what is necessary”. “It is not activism that saves, but the sincere and generous care that allows you to approach a poor person like a brother who extends his hand to awaken me from the lethargy in which I have fallen”.
To animate the celebration of this Day, the EEC and Caritas have prepared various materials, available in a digital space created ad hoc, available to all dioceses, parishes, communities, movements, associations and ecclesiastical institutions.
This appeal is a new occasion to reflect on how to give an adequate response that will bring relief and peace to so many people left at the mercy of uncertainty and precariousness. With this objective, the promoters of the Day propose as a gesture “to specify in a manifesto or creed how we can become poor in community to bring life in abundance to others”.
As explained in the animation materials of the Day, the response to the motto of this edition – “Jesus Christ made himself poor for you” – implies:
- give a personal and community response, because “the more the sense of community and communion as a lifestyle grows, the more solidarity develops”.
- to be a community of life and goods, in which “mutual love makes us carry one another’s burdens so that no one is abandoned or excluded”, sharing what we have with those who have nothing, but at the same time welcoming what who can contribute to us: their work, their thoughts, their way of doing and understanding life.
- be a community of action because “concern for the poor and for social justice” is “a commitment that concerns us all” and, therefore, “no one can feel excluded”.
