Say
a prayer for these people, wish them well and “ask Jesus that they
convert, and I assure you that if you do this, there will be great joy
in the church, in your hearts and also in beloved France," the Pope told
his audience.
The
Pope met with about 200 people from the French province of Lyon, who
are homeless, living in poverty or coping with an illness or disability.
The
group was on pilgrimage to Rome with Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon
and the All Together With Dignity Fourth World movement founded by
Father Joseph Wresinski, who ministered to deprived families in urban
and rural parishes.
Meeting
with the group on July 6 in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall, the
Pope told them he had a favour to ask them, or rather, he said, he was
giving them a mission to carry out.
It
is “a mission that only you, in your poverty will be able to
accomplish," he said in Italian, while an aide translated into French.
Jesus
was very harsh with and “strongly reprimanded people who do not embrace
the father’s message," the pope said, recalling Jesus’ “sermon on the
plain" in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
While
the poor, hungry, excluded and mournful are blessed, Jesus said, “woe
to you who are rich," satiated and mocking, the Pope said.
The
Pope also asked them to pray for those who are “guilty of your poverty"
and for “so many rich people dressed in purple and fine linen, who
feast with great banquets without realising that lying at their door
there are so many Lazaruses eager to eat the scraps from their table."
“Pray
also for priests, for the Levites, who, seeing that man beaten and
half-dead, pass to the other side, look the other way, because they have
no compassion," the Pope said.
Jesus
chose to share in their suffering out of love, by becoming “one of you:
scorned by man, forgotten, someone who means nothing."
“When
you experience this, do not forget that Jesus also experienced this
like you. It is proof that you are precious in his eyes and that he is
by your side," he said.
The
poor are a priority for the church, Pope Francis told them. “The
church, who loves and prefers those whom Jesus loved and preferred,
cannot rest until it has reached all those who experience refusal,
exclusion and who don’t mean anything to anybody."
Not
only are people able to encounter Christ in the poor, he said, the poor
help build peace in the world by “reminding us that we are brothers and
sisters and that God is the father of everyone."
by Carol Glatz
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