Pope Francis: talks about the Poor and what we do for them 06.04.20Pope Francis 06.04.20 Holy Mass Casa Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae) John 12: 1-11 Holy Week - Lectionary Cycle II I am thinking of a serious problem in many parts of the world. I would like us today to pray for the problem of overcrowding in prisons. Where there is overcrowding – so many people there – there is a danger, in this pandemic, that it will end in a serious calamity. We pray for those responsible, for those who have to make decisions regarding this, that they will find a fair and creative way to solve the problem. But today I would like to dwell on one of Jesus' words. Six days before the Passover – we are right at the door of the Passion – and Mary makes this gesture of contemplation: Martha served – as the other step – and Mary opens the door to contemplation. And Judas thinks about money and thinks of the poor, but not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and because he kept the common purse, he took what they put in. This story of the unfaithful administrator is always a current one, there is always someone, even at a high level: let's think of some charities or humanitarian organizations that have so many employees, many, who have a structure with many people in it and in the end maybe forty percent actually reaches the poor, because sixty percent goes to pay the salary of so many people. It's a way of taking the poor people's money. But the answer is Jesus. And here I want to pause: "You always have the poor with you"." This is a truth: "The poor in fact you will always have them with you." The poor are there. There are many: there is the poor that we see, but this is the least part; the great quantity of the poor are those who we do not see: the hidden poor. And we do not see them because we enter into this culture of indifference that is denial: "No, no, there are not many, they are not seen; yes, that case ...", always diminishing the reality of the poor. But there are many, many. Or even, if we do not enter into this culture of indifference, there is a habit of seeing the poor as ornaments of a city: yes, there they are, like statues; yes, there they are, we see them; yes, that old lady begging, that other... But as if it were a normal thing. It is part of the decoration of the city to have poor. But the vast majority are the poor victims of economic policies, of financial policies. Some recent statistics summarised: there is a lot of money in the hands of a few and so many people suffer poverty, many of them. And this is the poverty of so many people who are victims of the structural injustice of the world economy. And there are so many poor people who feel ashamed to reveal that they cannot get to the end of the month; many poor people of the middle class, who go secretly to Caritas and secretly ask and feel shame. There are many more poor than there are rich people; many, many ... And what Jesus says is true: "You always have the poor with you." Do I see them? Do I realize this reality? Especially of the hidden reality, those who feel embarrassed to say that they can't make it to the end of the month. |
Mass Casa Santa Marta > 04 2020 >