On Sunday 15 November, the Church will celebrate the IV World Day of the Poor, instituted by Pope Francis in 2016 and since then celebrated on the penultimate Sunday of the liturgical year. This year it is celebrated with the theme “Reach out to the poor” (cf. Sir 7:32).
For the Redemptorist family, the option for the poor “constitutes its very reason for being in the Church and the key to its fidelity to the vocation received” (Const. 5). This day takes on a singular relevance for Redemptorists, especially in the present circumstances of the pandemic, which has exposed human frailty and put our certainties in crisis, bringing pain and death, but also causing many hearts to open and many hands to be stretched out. Many initiatives have been generated in our communities to address the needs of the less fortunate. This is also an opportunity for us, through our pastoral ministry, to strengthen our awareness of the reality of the poor today. It is also an opportunity to intensify our relations with the media, government entities, and other institutions so that the cry of the poor does not continue to go unheard.
The attached document is a pastoral aid from the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, which is proposed as an instrument of support for celebrating the World Day of the Poor. “It is an aid that allows us to reflect on how to restore hope to those whom the world would like to relegate to a life of loneliness and discrimination” (R. Fisichella). May the announcement of the good news, whose main recipients are the poor, find renewed impetus during this day.
General Secretariat for Evangelization
PS-JPIC Commission
“Stretch forth your hand to the poor” – Pastoral Resource.
