The moment we are created by God, we are dependent on parents and other caretakers who will nurture and educate us but who may not be able to promise that there will be a bright future ahead of us apart from our hope in God. 

Bishop Bernard E. Shlesinger III

As we learn how to care for ourselves, we hope that good health, a good education and that with enough opportunity for work, we will be able to work, which is part of living a dignified life. However, when circumstances in life change, such as a debilitating illness, the lack of available jobs, violence in our neighborhoods, we can find ourselves migrating like so many today who are looking for work and a home for the future. 

I recently read the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Leo XIV called “Dilexi Te” (I have loved you). This document was first begun by Pope Francis but remained unfinished due to his death. Pope Leo followed up on completing it so that the world might take up the urgent call to hear the cry of the poor. The words of our Holy Father challenge us to look again at how we view our neighbor for in the pope’s words, “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our ‘family.’ They are ‘one of us.’” 

Using Pope Leo’s example, “If I encounter a person sleeping outdoors on a cold night, I can view him or her as an annoyance, an idler, an obstacle in my path, a troubling sight, a problem for politicians to sort out, or even a piece of refuse cluttering a public space.”  On a different note he says, “Or I can respond with faith and charity, and see in this person a human being with a dignity identical to my own, a creature infinitely loved by the Father, an image of God, a brother or sister redeemed by Jesus Christ.”  Pope Leo concludes that “the latter approach is what it is to be a Christian!” and asks, “Can holiness somehow be understood apart from this lively recognition of the dignity of each human being?” 

Today, more than ever, we need to focus on listening to cry of the poor, discovering where they are hidden from our view and especially understanding why they are crying out in their multifaceted situations. As Good Samaritans, we must not pass by these brothers and sisters in their need and succumb to thinking that this is the work of other people or institutions. So many that succumb to poverty in the world do not choose it; they are victims of a mindset which fails to address the deeper reasons for being stuck in a cycle which simply perpetuates itself.  

Is there a path forward for the world which results in justice and peace among all of us? Pope Leo states, “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.”