Love in action, not in words—Pope Francis
Pope Francis on Sunday called for a unified action in extending help and showing love to those who are in most need.
Everyone should love not with words but with deeds, said the pontiff in his message proclaiming Nov. 19 as the “World Day of Poor.”
“I invite the whole Church, and men and women of good will everywhere, to turn their gaze on this day to all those who stretch out their hands and plead for our help and solidarity,” he said.
Pope Francis during the Eucharistic celebration on the "First World Day of Poor". Photo by Daniel Ibañez of Catholic News Agency.
“[T]hey (poor) are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practice in our lives the essence of the Gospel,” he added.
The Pope said the help asked by the poor not only showed the need of a helping hand, but also the essence of poverty.
“Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself,” he said.
Poverty of the contemporary world was caused by “base interests” through the manipulation of power and money, said the Pope.
“Poverty has the face of women, men and children exploited by base interests, crushed by the machinations of power and money,” he said.
“What a bitter and endless list we would have to compile were we to add the poverty born of social injustice, moral degeneration, the greed of a chosen few, and generalized indifference!” he added.
To promote the real development, everyone needs to hear the “cry of the poor,” said Pope Francis.
“If we want to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalization,” he said.
“Let us not forget that the Our Father is the prayer of the poor. Our asking for bread expresses our entrustment to God for our basic needs in life,” he added.
The Pope said the event also encouraged everyone to do away with the “culture of discard and waste” and to adopt the “the culture of encounter.”
Let the new World Day be a tradition like the other World Days and to become a way of understanding the deepest truth of the Gospel, he said.
“This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel,” Pope Francis said.
Nov. 19 is also the 33rd Sunday of the Ordinary Time.