NEWSLETTER INSERTS FOR 33RD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME - WORLD DAY OF THE POOR
‘The loss of a sense of the transcendent in daily life is no longer so much a theoretical denial of God’s existence; rather, it is evident in the failure to take his goodness and mercy into account in the pursuit of personal and social justice’.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
'The poor, however, are more able than others to recognize what is essential, because they live on the essentials. More like Christ than anyone else, they recognize God as their refuge even when circumstances seem to contradict this, and they are filled with hope for his justice, which will not be long in coming. In the night of abandonment and loneliness, the poor “live in the shelter of the Most High” (cf. Ps 91:1). All who are afflicted, all who suffer injustice and are wronged, all who are in suffering and pain, all who are lonely and without a sense of purpose in life can find consolation and renewed motivation in the Lord'.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
'The poor of our day are the forgotten and the marginalized: robbed not only of bread, but also of a voice and a face. May they encounter the Son of God, who draws near to everyone without neglecting anyone. May they encounter him, first and foremost, in those who call themselves Christians'.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
'In Christ, therefore, we are called to become poor and to be a refuge for the poor. The Christian community cannot remain indifferent to the many who today stand at the door but remain invisible to those who are shut within their own walls. The Church, by its very nature, is called to be poor and a refuge for the poor'.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
'Are we a sign of a God who is a refuge for the poor? Are we aware of our own poverty, and do we prefer it to unjust wealth? Do we go where the poor are, experiencing their marginalization? Do we listen to their thoughts and share their hopes? Do we speak their names with divine tenderness? Does our charity reawaken and sustain in them the desire for justice and redemption? These and many other questions call for a serious examination of conscience’.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
‘Those who have God as their refuge have the freedom to make prophetic choices, which testify to the fact that everything can be reimagined from the ground up, in the humility and fraternity that alone can heal a world wounded by arrogance’.
Pope Leo XIV, Message for 10th World Day of the Poor
‘I distribute the virtues quite diversely; I do not give all of them to each person, but some to one, some to others. ... I shall give principally charity to one; justice to another; humility to this one, a living faith to that one. ... And so I have given many gifts and graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity that I have not given everything to one single person, so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one another. ... I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me’.
St Catherine of Siena, Dialogue, 7.
‘In our age of technology and the internet, information is plenty but wisdom is scarce. Wisdom comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit and from prayer. It comes from thinking deeper on questions more than answers. Wisdom comes from God to whom all of us will be accountable. Wisdom is the passionate desire not to be like the man in the Gospel who did not use his talent, who wasted opportunities, who lived in fear and who blew the one chance we all have in life to make a difference’.
Fr Billy Swan
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