The World Day of the Poor is celebrated on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time since 2017. The World Day of the Poor was first observed on 19 November 2017, with the theme, “Let us love, not with words but with deeds”. In his message for that first World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis said that “the Our Father is the prayer of the poor”. He held a special Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, followed by a free lunch at various Vatican venues. During the week preceding the World Day of the Poor, free specialized medical services were offered at a mobile clinic.
In this year’s message for the annual observance themed “For your sakes Christ became poor (2 Cor. 8:9)”, Pope Francis recalled the words of St. Paul to the Christians of Corinth, in order to encourage their efforts to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters in need. The Pope noted that the World Day this year comes “as a healthy challenge, helping us to reflect on our style of life and on the many forms of poverty all around us.”
Covid-19, war in Ukraine – Reflecting on current events in the world, Pope Francis pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic from which the world is emerging, including showing signs of an economic recovery that could benefit millions made poorer by the loss of their jobs.
He also highlighted the great poverty produced by the “senselessness of war” and how violence “strikes those who are defenceless and vulnerable.” and the millions of women, children and elderly people “forced to brave the danger of bombs just to find safety by seeking refuge as displaced persons in neighbouring countries.” More so, many remain in war zones, living each day with fear, lack of food, water, medical care and human affection.
Poverty that sets free – “True wealth does not consist in storing up “treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal,” the Pope said, but rather in “a reciprocal love that leads us to bear one another’s burdens in such a way that no one is left behind or excluded.”
This, Pope Francis stated, clashes with our human way of thinking that there exists a form of poverty that can make us rich-the poverty that sets us free “is one that results from a responsible decision to cast off all dead weight and concentrate on what is essential.”
“Encountering the poor enables us to put an end to many of our anxieties and empty fears, and to arrive at what truly matters in life, the treasure that no one can steal from us: true and gratuitous love,” said the Pope, adding that the poor, “before being the object of our almsgiving, are people, who can help set us free from the snares of anxiety and superficiality.”
Concluding, the Holy Father held up the example of St. Charles de Foucauld – a man born rich who gave up everything to follow Jesus – who urged everyone not to despise the poor, the little ones and the workers, because “not only are they our brothers and sisters in God, they are also those who most perfectly imitate Jesus in His outward life.”
“May this 2022 World Day of the Poor be for us a moment of grace,” the Pope prayed. “May it enable us to make a personal and communal examination of conscience and to ask ourselves whether the poverty of Jesus Christ is our faithful companion in life.”