Since we are hosting the prayer service this year, I am praying that you all join with me in welcoming our Christian neighbors.  As I’ve confessed “honor” is my Achilles heel and I’d be greatly embarrassed if we had a poor showing.  I hope to see a great turn out from our Faith Community this Sunday.  Meanwhile, before I return in time for the service, I am going to enjoy the last few days of my vacation and so I’ve asked our Holy Father to be the guest columnist this weekend.
 
November 18, 2018 marks the second annual World Day of the Poor. Last year, Pope Francis suggested the Catholic Church set aside one day each year when communities can “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel.” He designated this day as the World Day of the Poor, and it will be celebrated on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time each year.  In this year’s World Day of the Poor message, Pope Francis challenges us to use the World Day of the Poor as an opportunity to make an examination of conscience and consider whether we truly do hear the cry of the poor:
 
The poor are the first to recognize God’s presence and to testify to his closeness in their lives. God remains faithful to his promise; and even in the darkness of the night, he does not withhold the warmth of his love and consolation. However, for the poor to overcome their oppressive situation, they need to sense the presence of brothers and sisters who are concerned for them and, by opening the doors of their hearts and lives, make them feel like friends and family. Only in this way can the poor discover “the saving power at work in their lives” and “put them at the center of the Church’s pilgrim way” (Evangelii Gaudium, 198).
 
On this World Day, we are asked to fulfil the words of the Psalm: “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied” (Ps 22:26). We know that in the Temple of Jerusalem, after the rites of sacrifice, a banquet was held. It was this experience that, in many dioceses last year, enriched the celebration of the first World Day of the Poor. Many people encountered the warmth of a home, the joy of a festive meal and the solidarity of those who wished to sit together at table in simplicity and fraternity. I would like this year’s, and all future World Days, to be celebrated in a spirit of joy at the rediscovery of our capacity for togetherness. Praying together as a community and sharing a meal on Sunday is an experience that brings us back to the earliest Christian community, described by the evangelist Luke in all its primitive simplicity: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:42.44-45).
 
When we find ways of drawing near to the poor, we know that the primacy belongs to God, who opens our eyes and hearts to conversion. The poor do not need self-promoters, but a love that knows how to remain hidden and not think about all the good it has been able to do. At the center must always be the Lord and the poor. Anyone desirous of serving is an instrument in God’s hands, a means of manifesting his saving presence.
 
So, I invite all to experience this World Day as a privileged moment of new evangelization. The poor evangelize us and help us each day to discover the beauty of the Gospel. Let us not squander this grace-filled opportunity. On this day, may all of us feel that we are in debt to the poor, because, in hands outstretched to one another, a salvific encounter can take place to strengthen our faith, inspire our charity and enable our hope to advance securely on our path towards the Lord who is to come.

Taken from - MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
SECOND WORLD DAY OF THE POOR

Fr. Jerry Ragan