Pope Francis, then known as Cardinal Jorge Bergolio, washes and kisses the feet of residents of a shelter for drug users during Holy Thursday Mass in 2008 at a church in a poor neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo courtesy of CNS/Reuters/Enrique Garcia Medina)
Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid. — Pope Francis
THE Good Book is rich in wisdom about God’s love for people living in poverty and it also tells us about our responsibility to help. We love the way Jesus showed us how to care for the poor and oppressed. He really said it best: “Glory be to those who help others.
So continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.” And Jesus is always kind and compassionate toward us, even in our sin.
His sacrifice on the cross sealed the forgiveness of our sin. He modeled kindness, compassion, and forgiveness for all mankind to follow, and as His children, we should commit to doing the same. And Catholicism teaches that “those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense and liberation through numerous works of charity. However, during the synodal consultations conducted by the Church in Tagaytay City last July, there were “disturbing realizations” that showed a “dark and wide gap” between priests and the poor.
According to Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula, “(the) local Church is far from being the Church of the poor that (it) aspire(s) to be.” Advincula admitted that “the Church does not know the poor and the poor do not know the Church,” and during his homily at the Pontificio Collegio Filippino’s chapel in Rome, he pointed out: “Our poor and marginalized brethren feel that their views and values are disregarded in our Church communities and organizations.”
The cardinal added that distributing dole-outs is not enough and the Church must be “immersed deep enough in the lives of the poor so that we smell like the poor.” I remember when I was recruited by our parish priest Fr. Frias to be lector during Tuesdays and Thursday in the dawn masses of our parish of San Rafael in Pasay City and lead the Bible seminars for depressed communities every evening from Monday to Saturday and also at 3:00 in the afternoon every Sunday.
It was a wearisome vocation but it help me get closer to our parishioners and gave me fulfillment as one of the faithful. And years later, when I was then a member of the Pag-ibig sa Diyos Catholic Community (PDCC) led by Fr. Pisco of Silang, Cavite, I witnessed during one of our group’s outreach activity how the parish priest assigned in Smokey Mountain was able to survive the stomach-turning smell of the former garbage dump and still serve the faithful with dedication and truthfulness. “We must immerse ourselves in the life of the poor, be friends with them, journey with them, empower them for a mission, include them in the life and activity of the Church and advocate for their dignity,” Cardinal Advincula has stressed.
This is an endeavor that every priest should now and live by. Priests shouldn’t be staying inside their churches and be content with celebrating the Holy Mass several times every day and leading fund-raising activities and having fun-fare during fiestas as their primary duties. What the laity should be doing is to go out of the comforts of their church and make visitations to each of the homes of their parishioners so they can be closer to them and know their struggles, especially now that it appears the Devil is holding sway and ruling the lives of most ordinary people.
Last August 27, Cardinal Advincula traveled to Rome to attend the consistory for the creation of 20 new cardinals at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He also took part in the two-day extraordinary consistory called by Pope Francis, which started two days later. The cardinal said the faithful are pointed to the virtue of Christian humility, which not only entails docility and heavenly orientation but also solidarity with the lowly. Humility, according to him, is more than just the ascetic denial of worldly pleasures and prestige, or the willingness to suffer shame and dishonor.
“True humility must be expressed as solidarity with the last, the least, and the lost among us,” he noted. Prior to Advincula’s pronouncement, members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) admitted their shortcomings, citing that this was the reason are why the country is still “far from (the) dream of a Church of the poor.”
“We saw gaps and closed doors in our work of evangelization. We saw shadows,” reads a statement released by the CBCP following the National Synodal Consultation in Tagaytay City. The bishops vowed to “open doors for us all to go out and set forth once again for mission” and “to seek out those who are far, different, excluded.”
In ending, let me state my opinion regarding why the Church has weakened despite the faithfulness of millions of Catholics around the world, particularly here in the Philippines. This is because priests no longer have time to go out of their churches and visit their parishioners. In the New Testament, we are told: Jesus called the disciples to him and gave them their mission.
He gave them the authority and power to heal the sick and cast out evil spirits. Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs to carry on his work. Since we can consider that our priests are heirs to the mission of the Apostles, then we can rightfully say that they cannot simply fulfill this by just remaining inside their church—or have they forgotten this?
* * *
