You are the vine, and we are the branches!
«Christian hope embraces the certainty that our prayer reaches God’s presence; not just any prayer but rather the prayer of the poor». Pope Francis utters these words in the message for the Eighth day of the poor that falls on the 17 November. Its title, “The prayer of the poor rises up to God” (Sir 21, 5) is linked to the year 2024, dedicated to prayer, in view of the Jubilee of 2025.
The common thread of the book of Sirach is the certainty that the poor have a privileged place in the Lord’s heart, to such an extent that, in front of their suff ering, God cannot wait until he renders justice. However, nobody is excluded from His heart, because we are all needy before Him. We are all beggars because we are nothing without God.
With humble and poor hearts, we pray through the intercession of Jeanne Antide who prayed God with the following words in 1821: «O God, deign to make your goodness and mercy shine forth, deign to hear O God, my humble prayer. I am only weakness, sin and ignorance, and I can do nothing without you».