Today, November 17, the World Day of the Poor 2024 is celebrated

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the World Day of the Poor, instituted by Pope Francis on November 21, 2016, at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

“In light of the ‘Jubilee of socially excluded people’, while the Doors of Mercy were closed in all the cathedrals and sanctuaries of the world, I sensed that, as another concrete sign of this extraordinary Holy Year, it should be celebrated throughout the Church, on the XXXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time, the World Day of the Poor,” the Holy Father wrote in the apostolic letter Mercy and misery.

In this document, Pope Francis explains that this Day “will help communities and each baptized person to reflect on how poverty is at the heart of the Gospel and on the fact that, as long as Lazarus is lying at the door of our house, there can be no justice or social peace.”

In this document, Pope Francis explains that this Day “will help communities and each baptized person to reflect on how poverty is at the heart of the Gospel and on the fact that, as long as Lazarus is lying at the door of our house, there can be no justice or social peace.”

In his message for the Day of 2024, Pope Francis chose as his motto “The prayer of the poor ascends to God”, taken from the Book of the Ecclesiasticalfrom the Old Testament.

In the text, the Holy Father refers to the Year of Prayer that he called in preparation for the Ordinary Jubilee 2025, to remember that Christian hope embraces “the certainty that our prayer reaches the presence of God; but not just any prayer: the prayer of the poor!”

In that sense, it addresses the teachings of Book of the Ecclesiastical —written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Ben Sirá around the 2nd century BC—, one of which is about prayer. “In my youth, before I walked the world, I openly sought wisdom in prayer,” wrote the sacred author.

Pope Francis explains that during his life Ben Sirá discovered that “the poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” who as a Father “takes care of those who need it most: the poor, the marginalized, the suffering, the forgotten.” . But no one is excluded from his heart, since, before Him, we are all poor and needy. “We are all beggars, because without God we would be nothing.”

The Pontiff points out that the violence of wars “shows with evidence how much arrogance moves those who consider themselves powerful in the eyes of men, while they are miserable in the eyes of God.”

“How many new poor people produce this bad policy carried out with weapons, how many innocent victims! But we can’t go back. The disciples of the Lord know that each one of these ‘little ones’ bears the face of the Son of God, and each one must receive our solidarity and the sign of Christian charity,” he indicates.

Likewise, the Holy Father calls in his text to pray for those in need, because “the worst discrimination that the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care.”

And send a message to these people: “God is attentive to each of you and is at your side. He does not forget them nor could he ever do so.”

“We have all had the experience of a prayer that seems to go unanswered. Sometimes we ask to be freed from a misery that makes us suffer and humiliates us, and it may seem that God does not hear our call. But God’s silence is not a distraction from our sufferings; rather, it guards a word that asks to be heard with confidence, abandoning us to Him and His will.”

Pope Francis affirms that “the World Day of the Poor is now an obligatory event for every ecclesial community.”

“It is a pastoral opportunity that should not be underestimated, because it encourages all believers to listen to the prayer of the poor, becoming aware of their presence and their need. It is a favorable occasion to carry out initiatives that specifically help the poor, and also to recognize and support so many volunteers who are passionately dedicated to those most in need,” he says.

The Pontiff concludes his message by remembering that Christians are called “in all circumstances to be friends of the poor, following in the footsteps of Jesus, who was the first to show solidarity with the last.”

“May the Holy Mother of God, the Most Holy Mary, sustain us on this path, who, appearing in Banneux, left us a message that we must not forget: ‘I am the Virgin of the poor.’ To her, whom God has looked upon for her humble poverty, working wonders by virtue of her obedience, we entrust our prayer, convinced that she will rise to heaven and be heard,” assures the Holy Father.