World Day of the Poor
Sunday, 2025 November 15

In 2017, Pope Francis established the 33rd Sunday as the World Day of the Poor. This is to be a time to “reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the gospel.” Pope Francis desired for Christians across the world to unite and be a greater and more tangible sign of Christ’s charity for those in need. At the first World Day of the Poor, he said, “to draw near to the poor, to encounter them, to meet their gaze, to embrace them, and to let them feel the warmth of love that breaks through their solitude. Their outstretched hand is also an invitation to step out of our certainties and comforts, and to acknowledge the value of poverty in itself." Just as Jesus, who is God almighty, embraced a state poverty as a babe in a manger, a carpenter, a prophet falsely accused and persecuted, so are we, His disciples, called to follow His footsteps in complete surrender, so nothing keeps us from God and doing God’s will.

At all our Masses on Nov. 15th, we empowered each of our parishioners and visitors with an envelope with $10 to invest in helping the poor. We passed out 158 envelopes. 28 envelopes were returned in the collection basket totally $380. That still leaves 130 creative seeds germinating to make a difference in the world.

Some suggested ideas include:

- Take someone poor to lunch and learn their story

- Buy food to make sandwiches and feed the poor in a park

- Use the funds to travel to a soup kitchen like Tenemos Catholic Worker or St. Anthony’s Dining Room and serve others

- Buy stamps, stationary, and envelope and write a letter on behalf of the needy to our president and your representatives. If needed, use AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) to help compose your letter.

- Join a JustFaith group to learn more about poverty

- Use the funds to travel to your public library and read Oxfam’s recommended 19 books on poverty

- Use the funds as a starter to sponsor a needy person locally or through an organization like UNBOUND or Save the Children.

Pope Leo's World Day of the Poor Message (2025)

Planting Stories of 2025 to Serve the Poor

  • Our outreach is now international: one international parishioner knows someone in need in the home country and was able to transfer the funds to that home country. Another parishioner was traveling in the Philippines and used the funds to help a needy home for the aged.

  • Our outreach is now national: a couple visiting from Pennsylvania combined their envelopes with additional funds to support Sister Paula’s Soup Kitchen

  • While at a grocery store, someone in need asked for $10 which matched the envelope - God destined this envelope was going to meet that person’s needs.

  • Matched the fund and provided donuts and dog food to the needy

  • Multiplied the $10 to $100 and donated that to Alameda County Food Bank

  • Volunteered at the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and donating $30

  • Read Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation about children in South Bronx. Is this really in America?

  • Pledged to support Emmanuel, an 8-year old child from Kenya, through UNBOUND

  • A couple of people returned their envelopes with a total of $100 more for us to invest

  • One person is praying for our parish’s efforts in helping the poor