Mother Teresa MUST INSPIRE us during Coronavirus crisis

Mother Teresa is forever remembered for her humble ministry to lepers, the homeless and the poorest of the poor. During the Coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis has called on Catholics to seek Mother Teresa's example as an inspiration in helping those who are suffering during this crisis. 

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.

Highlights

By Abigail James
4/2/2020 (5 years ago)

Published in Living Faith

Keywords: Pope Francis, Coronavirus, prayers, homeless, Italy, Mass

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - During Mass on April 2, Pope Francis recalled seeing a heartbreaking and shocking photograph of homeless people sleeping in a large parking lot.

According to Catholic News Agency, the pope was likely referring to the viral photo of homeless lying in blocked off rectangles six feet apart at the Las Vegas Cashman Center. 

"We ask St. Teresa of Calcutta to reawaken in us the sense of closeness to so many people who, in society, in normal life, are hidden but, like the homeless, in a moment of crisis, are pointed out in this way," expressed Pope Francis. 

Mother Teresa words on poverty should inspire us all. 

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty."

During his homily, Pope Francis reflected on God's covenant with Abraham. 

"The Lord has always remembered his covenant The Lord never forgets. Yes, he forgets only in one case, when he forgives sins," he shared. "After he has forgiven he loses the memory, he does not remember the sins. In other cases, God does not forget."

"The election, the promise and the covenant are the three dimensions of the life of faith, the three dimensions of the Christian life," the pope explained. "Each of us is an elect. No one chooses to be a Christian among all the possibilities that the religious 'market' offers him, he is an elect."

"We are Christians because we have been elected. In this election there is a promise, there is a promise of hope, the sign is fruitfulness: 'Abraham will be father of a multitude of nations and ... you will be fruitful in faith. Your faith will flourish in works, in good works, in works of fruitfulness too, a fruitful faith. But you must -- the third step -- observe the covenant with me.' And the covenant is faithfulness, to be faithful. We have been elected. The Lord has given us a promise. Now he is asking us for a covenant, a covenant of faithfulness."

Turning to the Gospel reading, John 8:51-59, where Jesus says that Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see Jesus' day, Pope Francis reflected.
"The sins of the journey are always against these three dimensions: to not accept the election -- and we 'elect' so many idols, so many things that are not of God; to not accept hope in the promise, to go, to look at the promises from afar, even many times, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, greeting them from afar and making the promises today with the little idols that we make; and forgetting the covenant, living without the covenant, as if we were without the covenant."

The Holy Father continues to remain isolated and livestream his homilies from Casa Santa Marta, the chapel in his Vatican City home.