In an impromptu speech, during a meeting with charitable associations on World Youth Day, Pope Francis invited them to “get their hands dirty” demonstrating “concrete love” for those most in need and has invited each person to wonder if you feel “disgusted” towards poverty, if you clean your hands every time you shake hands with a sick or vulnerable person to “not get infected”.
“There is no abstract love, it does not exist, platonic love is in orbit, not in reality, concrete love is that which gets its hands dirty; and each one can ask: 'Is the love I feel for those here concrete? or abstract? When I shake hands with someone in need, a sick person, an elderly person, do I do this right away [making a gesture of wiping with his hand] so that it doesn't spread to me? Am I disgusted by the poverty of the others?”, he stressed.
This was stated this Friday in a meeting with representatives of some assistance and charity centers at the Serafina Parish Center, in Lisbon, within the framework of World Youth Day (WYD) 2023.
Francisco was reading the speech he had prepared but, at one point, he stopped and confessed to those present that he did not see well with his glasses. “The reflectors aren't working for me, I can't read well, so I'm going to give it to them, I'm not going to strain my eyes and read badly, that can't be done,” he said, to the applause of the audience.
After the break, the Pontiff criticized “distilled lives”, an expression that he already used this Thursday in another of his speeches, and asked himself “how many distilled and useless lives go through life without leaving a trace, because they have no weight”. .
Centers that “generate life”
Faced with this reality, Bergoglio has encouraged people to live “leaving their mark” as do the assistance and charity centers that are “inspiration” for others and that “generate life”.. “By touching reality, the misery of others, you are generating inspiration, you are generating life, keep going, don't get discouraged, and if you get discouraged, have a glass of water and keep going,” the Pope invited.
As he specified, “charity is the origin and goal of the Christian path” and the action of the assistance centers are “the concrete reality of love in action” that helps “not to forget the path”. Specifically, the Pontiff has emphasized three aspects: doing good together, acting concretely and being close to the most fragile.
In this sense, the Pope stressed that a person “must not be defined” by an illness, a problem or a limitation, but must “contribute” and “enrich” the “whole” as it is.
“We are not a disease”
“We must not allow ourselves to be defined by the disease, or by the problems, because we are not a disease, we are not a problem. Each one of us is a gift, a gift, a unique gift, with its limits, but a valuable and sacred gift for God, for the Christian community and for the human community”, he defended.
In addition, the Pontiff has emphasized the need to “act concretely” in the “here and now” and has pointed out that “the Church is not an archeology museum”.. “Some think it that way but it is not,” he stressed.
In the part of the speech not delivered, the Pope also proposed not to waste time “lamenting reality” and “facing concrete needs with joy.” Likewise, Francis has invited to “be close to the most fragile” of “the poor, the excluded, the marginalized, the discarded, the little ones, the defenseless”. “They are the treasure of the Church, they are God's favorites.”
No distinctions by origin
Among them, the Pope asks “not to make distinctions” regardless of whether they are Spanish or foreign. “Helping others is a gift to oneself and does good to all. Yes, love is a gift for everyone,” he emphasized.