Pope Francis and the Least Among Us (StVdP)

Pope Francis and the Least Among Us
Reflection for St. Vincent de Paul meeting, Monday, September 28, 2015
By Dcn Bob Bonomi

Now that Pope Francis has returned home after his whirl-wind tour of Cuba and the US, we should take a moment and reflect on what kind of impact his visit had on each of us personally.  I hope that you had an opportunity to see and hear him at one of his stops.  The love, the energy and the joy that radiated from him everywhere he went is a living testimony to what happens when you center your life on Jesus.  Although I was fortunate to see some of his presentations being broadcast live, I’m still working through the rest of the ones that were broadcast and recorded by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.  I encourage you to take some time and listen to his homilies, his presentations, and his off-the-cuff remarks that are still available through the USCCB website.  They are inspiring – and humbling – especially since many of them are from his “going to the streets” and practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy: for example, visiting the sick and imprisoned, praying for those who died at the 9-11 memorial, listening to those who suffered abuse from those they trusted.

It seems appropriate to use his own words for our reflection today.  They are taken from the Magnificat reflection for last Sunday, October 27th:

“Therefore following Jesus on the path of charity, going with him to the existential outskirts … For the Good Shepherd what is far, what is on the margins, what is lost and unappreciated is the object of greater care, and the Church cannot but make her own this special love and attention.  The first in the Church are those who are the most in need, humanly, spiritually, materially, the neediest.” – Pope Francis

From today’s Gospel from St. Luke: “For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”  These are the clients of St. Vincent de Paul that you serve.