We came here to Assisi to follow Saint Francis. Francis's secret is to descend the stairs, to meet the poorest person. That's why he carried such joy in his heart. He had grasped the great secret of Jesus. But society teaches us to climb the stairs: you must have more money, more power, more friends. You must have more. Always climbing, succeeding, winning, beating others. The Gospel tells us to move in the opposite direction. When we climb the stairs to gain more, others have less. When we climb, we walk over other people. That's why our world fractures into so many divisions. That's why there is war, why we struggle against one another, why some die of hunger while others have more than enough. That's why we don't welcome the poor.
When Jesus walked the earth, he told a parable deeply important for people in today's world.
There was a man—Jesus said—named Lazarus. He was very poor, his legs covered with sores. He had no work, was alone, lived on the street, felt that no one loved him. Across from him lived a rich man. He had many friends, threw parties for them: they laughed, danced, amused themselves, and paid no attention to Lazarus.
This is our world today. There are people who have many things. They try to celebrate, to distract themselves, to pass the time. Not far away is Lazarus: he feels alone, probably lives on the street, has no work, is rejected. Perhaps he lives in an institution where there are many other people, but where he doesn't feel loved. Lazarus might live in a distant country where people have far less than we do. Perhaps Lazarus is a family with a child in trouble, and so that child is set apart. The mother and father carry wounded hearts. They may not even be able to go to their parish because the child disturbs others. So this family also has the impression of being cut off from God's love and the Church's welcome.
Jesus tells us that when Lazarus died, he entered at once into God's heart, where he had a place. And God said to him the great secret he says to each of us: I love you. You are my beloved son in whom I have put all my joy. Then the rich man died. He went to a place of torment, because during his life he had closed his heart. He refused to share, refused to be part of God's great plan: a new order where the poor person stands at the center.
The human project is a hierarchy where everyone must struggle to climb to the top, to earn more money, to have more power.
And God said to him the great secret he says to each of us: I love you
And God said to him the great secret he says to each of us: I love youGod's project is to create a body, a community where everyone finds his place, where no one is left out, where everyone knows he is loved; and at the center of this community, at the heart of this body, is the smallest: he is God's treasure.
And the rich man, from his place of torment, sees Lazarus in the place of sharing and communion and cries to God: I am thirsty; my mouth and all my being are in agony; send Lazarus to put a little water on my lips.
And God says: No. That is not possible. There is an abyss between you, just as there was when you lived. You closed yourself in your house and did not look at Lazarus outside your door. You closed your heart.
In that moment, I imagine, the rich man perhaps understood. If he had the chance, perhaps he would kneel before the poor man and say: forgive me, I did not know. Today is the day of reconciliation. To begin, we must ask the poor person's forgiveness, because we have made him suffer: too busy with our own affairs and amusements, we did not open our hearts to him. The poor in our communities and the poor of our world.
Jesus came to earth to gather human beings into unity. Whether very fragile or very strong, with many gifts or few, everyone must find his place. No one should be shut out.
The devil's work is to separate, to break unity, to push people into different places so they feel alone and afraid.
Jesus came to bring good news to the poor: each of us is loved by God.
I remember receiving a letter from a young woman whose life had been full of pain. She felt unloved by her parents. At school she failed again and again, had no friends, was convinced no man could ever love her. She was psychologically very fragile, felt herself a failure, guilty of existing, a disappointment to her parents. One day, walking in a forest, she sat on a log and suddenly—she wrote—was filled with the feeling of being loved by God. It was the first time she had ever felt loved by anyone, not just anyone, but God. When you discover that God loves you, he helps you accept yourself as you are.
You will need no money because I will care for you
You will need no money because I will care for youGod loves me as I am in this moment, with my years, my fragility, with my inner and outer handicaps, with all my past of failures, fragility, poverty, and sin. He loves me as I am and invites me to grow: this is the good news. And Jesus wants us to live it together. He does not want there to be rich and poor. He wants there to be brothers and sisters. Jesus does not want oppressors and oppressed, does not want war, does not want us crushing one another. Jesus does not want an elite system where one says: I am better than you. Jesus came so that all human beings are gathered into unity.
Read also: Rise Up and Find Hope Again
Jesus left us. He ascended to the Father, but he lives. He is alive in us and wants us to continue his work.
When he was on earth he met a rich young man who asked him: "What must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus told him the commandments.
The young man answered: "I have kept all these." Then Jesus said to him: "Sell everything you have and come with me. We will work together, you and I, for a new order of love. You will need no money, because I will care for you."
This was precisely Francis's discovery, and his message: that it is not necessary to have many things. If we have experienced that God watches over us and cares for us, we have no need for all those riches that in the end divide us. That's why Jesus tells us: Look at the birds of the sky and the lilies of the field. The birds don't sow or reap, but the Father feeds them.
Jesus says to the young man: Come, we will work together for God's kingdom
Jesus says to the young man: Come, we will work together for God's kingdomJesus says to the young man: Come, we will work together for God's kingdom, made up of people who have understood Jesus's plan and want to build a community where no one is left out, where the poor person stands at the center. And when Jesus went to the Father, he sent his Holy Spirit. Through that Spirit, and in that Spirit, I discover in the heart of every person—especially the poorest—God's friend.
Francis's great secret, the great secret of Faith and Light, is to follow Jesus in his descent, to meet the smallest people, to live in covenant with them, and to rise together in celebration.
We may not have much money, but when we love one another, we possess extraordinary wealth. When our love is rooted in Jesus's love, when we know it is he who has gathered us and guides us, we possess a strength that comes from God.
If I bear little fruit, the poor will remain at the bottom
If I bear little fruit, the poor will remain at the bottomJesus's great desire is that the powers of the world be overcome, so that the Gospel's power can be lifted up. Ours is the same word as Mary's: Do whatever he tells you. And Mary in the Magnificat sings: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has sent the rich away empty and filled the hungry with good things."
But it is not easy to descend the stairs and follow Francis, even though Francis was full of joy. Francis was a free man. Clare was a free woman. Their hearts were free because they knew God was caring for them. When we discover that God cares for us, our hearts are free and full of joy. But there are so many forces that push us not to believe that God wants us to be a happy, fruitful people. Jesus wants us to be a people who are happy and who love. But we have not believed him, and this wounds him.
To descend the stairs with Francis and Clare, we must find the strength to stand against the power of mass media and culture. We disciples of Jesus need strength. That's why we must be nourished by the body of Jesus, why we must be men and women fed by God's love, by the presence of Jesus in the small and the poor—men and women who accept the descent, who are faithful to the small and the poor, who struggle for a new order where there are no longer rich and poor like that rich man and Lazarus.
We have much for which to ask forgiveness. We did not believe Jesus's promise that he truly loves us, that he wants to give us a new heart, strength and energy. Instead, we have let ourselves be seduced by the distractions of this world, by projects to get rich, to become more powerful.
We also have much for which to ask the poor person's forgiveness. If each of us does not grow in love, it is the poor who will suffer. If I do not open my home to him, he will remain without shelter. If I do not open my heart to him, he will continue to feel left out. If I do not grow in love, if I do not mature in love, if I do not move toward true understanding, the poor will suffer. If I bear little fruit, the poor will remain at the bottom.
Today is the day of penance, the day we ask forgiveness because we did not believe in this new order of love that Jesus came to begin. I did not want to descend with Jesus to join myself to the poor. I did not feed myself on God's word and the body of Christ. Without strength, I could not follow Jesus.
by Jean Vanier, 1986