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On the occasion of the Fifth World Day of the Poor, an interview with a priest who finds God through his ministry to people in precarious conditions
By Florence Chatel | France
Catholics around the world this Sunday mark the Fifth Word Day of the Poor, a yearly observance that Pope Francis decreed for the universal Church in 2016.
The pope preempted this year's celebration by making a visit to Assisi, the home of St. Francis, to meet with hundreds of poor and needy folks.
He'll celebrate Mass for a couple thousand poor people late Sunday morning in St. Peter's Basilica, then the Vatican will offer them a hot dinner afterwards.
Pope Francis has been an inspiration to other believers who care for the poor and needy.
One of them is François Odinet, a priest in the Diocese of Le Havre in northern France.
He told La Croix's Florence Chatel that in his ministry he's learned how to begin looking at the world through the eyes of the poor.
La Croix: In his message for the Fifth World Day of the Poor, the pope states that "the poor are true evangelizers". What does he mean?
François Odinet: In the Gospel, when Jesus arrives in the villages, the poor are the first to recognize him as the Savior, while the authorities of the people and those educated in religious matters proclaim that he is a false messiah.
Even today, they show us how God's love helps us to stand up during trials and to get through them, how it inspires acts of fraternity.
God reveals himself to all, but God shows it by taking the side of the poor.
In his message, the pope asks us two questions: do we see the poor and what do we see in them?
Do we see them as lost people, or worse, as people whom we judge to be responsible for their condition?
Or do we see them as those through whom the Gospel, the good news, comes?
We need to hear the faith of the poor. They point us to the heart of our faith, the paschal mystery.
Jesus' death on the cross is first of all an experience of injustice and contempt, like the cross that weighs on them.
Jesus suffers because he is "counted for nothing", as Peter says in the Acts of the Apostles.
He accepts to be attached to the cross of the poor, which must seize us in the bowels.
At the same time, the breath of the resurrection also comes into our world through the poor.
They have a capacity to seek the life that passes through death, the light that passes through the darkness.
Is there not a risk of instrumentalizing the figure of the poor in the Church?
Absolutely, and that is why we must be very careful that the World Day of the Poor is not a form of instrumentalization of the poor.
The fundamental question to ask ourselves in the Church is: do we want to join their struggle?
I very sincerely think that Francis created this day with this objective in mind.
But if once a year we use it as a symbol to show that the poor are important to us, not only will we not have advanced their cause, but we will have instrumentalized them; and the poor are well aware of this. They are very sensitive to the way we treat them.
I hear people in precarious situations say that they are not asked to read at Mass, to render services, that they are not made responsible for anything.
Another way to mask the real poor is to spiritualize the term "poverty". In the Bible, except in the Beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel, this term refers to material and social poverty.
In the Church, however, we are quick to use the term "poverty" to describe our feelings of uncertainty when we have encounters with the poor.
Francis proposes moving from charity to sharing...
Sharing our goods, our time with the poor is important. But, in the attitude of giving alms to the poor, we are still focused on what comes from us.
On the other hand, when it comes to sharing their struggle, we allow ourselves to be moved toward what they will share with us.
The "Church on the move" means going towards them, and above all being able to see the world from their perspective.
They turn our perceptions upside down and lead us to look again at our ways of thinking and living. They move us, as the cross and the resurrection do with our ideas about God.
The test of a true encounter with them is our conversion.
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