Pope Francis: Christians must serve Jesus in the poor

At a time when "situations of injustice and human pain" seem to be growing all over the world, Christians are called to "accompany the victims, to see the face of our crucified Lord in the face," said Pope Francis.

The pope spoke of the Gospel call to work for justice on November 7 when he met about 200 people, Jesuits and their collaborators, on the occasion of the XNUMXth anniversary of the Secretariat for Jesuit Social Justice and Ecology.

Listing examples of places where Catholics are called to work for justice and for the safeguard of creation, Francis spoke of "a third world war fought in pieces", human trafficking, growing "expressions of xenophobia and selfish search for national interests, "and inequality between and within nations, which seem to" grow without finding a remedy ".

Then there is the fact that "we have never hurt our common home as badly and mistreated as we have done in the past 200 years," he said, and that environmental destruction affects mostly the poorest people in the world.

From the start, St. Ignatius of Loyola intended that the Society of Jesus would defend and spread the faith and help the poor, said Francis. In founding the Secretariat for Social Justice and Ecology 50 years ago, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, then superior general, "intended to strengthen it".

Arrupe's "contact with human pain", said the pope, convinced him that God was close to those who suffer and was calling all Jesuits to incorporate the search for justice and peace into their ministries.

Today, for Arrupe and for Catholics, the focus on society's "discarded" and the struggle against "disposable culture" must arise from prayer and be strengthened by it, said Francis. "P. Pedro has always believed that the service of faith and the promotion of justice could not be separated: they were radically united. For him, all the ministries of society had to respond, at the same time, to the challenge of proclaiming the faith and promoting justice. What had hitherto been a commission for some Jesuits was to become everyone's concern. "

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Francis said that when contemplating the birth of Jesus, St. Ignatius encouraged people to imagine being there as a humble servant, helping the Holy Family in the poverty of the stable.

"This active contemplation of God, excluding God, helps us to discover the beauty of every marginalized person," said the pope. “In the poor, you have found a privileged place to meet with Christ. This is a precious gift in the life of the follower of Jesus: to receive the gift of meeting him between the victims and the poor. "

Francis encouraged the Jesuits and their collaborators to continue to see Jesus in the poor and to listen to them humbly and serve them in every possible way.

"Our broken and divided world must build bridges," he said, so that people can "discover at least the beautiful face of a brother or sister in whom we recognize ourselves and whose presence, even without words, requires our care and our solidarity “.

While individual care for the poor is essential, a Christian cannot overlook the structural "social evils" that create suffering and keep people poor, he said. "Hence the importance of the slow work of transforming structures through participation in the public dialogue in which decisions are made."

"Our world needs transformations that protect the life that is under threat and defend the weakest," he said. The task is enormous and can make people despair.

But, the pope said, the poor themselves can show the way. Often they are the ones who continue to trust, hope and organize themselves to improve their lives and that of their neighbors.

A Catholic social apostolate should try to solve problems, Francis said, but above all it should encourage hope and promote "processes that help people and communities to grow, that lead them to be aware of their rights, to use their skills. and to create your own future “.