Listening to the poor

66. Wherever in the world God has placed them, Christians must respond to the call of those who are hungry by personally questioning their own lives. The call of the hungry urges one to question the meaning and the value of daily actions, to seek out the immediate and sometimes more remote consequences of professional and voluntary work, handicrafts and domestic work. Further, one must gauge the magnitude, which is much more concrete and wide-ranging than could be imagined, of the consequences of all one does, even the most ordinary things, and hence appraise real responsibility. Christians must question the way time is managed, which in the modern world often suffers by default or by excess because of unemployment, which causes such destruction. The eyes of the spirits and hearts of Christians will be opened if they know how to accept this invitation from God, which is extended to all men and women, to go out as a matter of routine, discreetly and humbly to listen to and serve anyone in need. This is a very particular appeal to all known in current parlance as leaders or officials.

St.Paul states unequivocally that: "Jesus Christ ... though rich ... for your sake he became poor" (2 Cor. 8:16). Christ wished to make us rich through his poverty and through the love we must always show to those living in poverty.