Caritas Internationalis will mark this year’s World Day of the Poor (November 13) and World Youth Day (November 20) with a daily prayer-to-action programme created and animated by Caritas youth from around the world. Inspired by Pope Francis’ chosen themes for this year’s celebrations: ‘For your sakes Christ became poor’ (2 Cor 8:9) and ‘Mary arose and went with haste’ (Lk 1:39), Caritas invites everyone around the world to follow Pope Francis’ call to be “evangelized by the poor” and value them as equal members in our communities.
All people within and beyond Caritas are invited to participate in this week of prayer, reflection and action through interactive and online resources available at www.caritas.org/prayactcaritas and Caritas’ social media accounts @CaritasYouth and @IAmCaritas. The programme will be officially launched on the World Day of the Poor with an online Holy Mass and conclude the following Sunday with an online global Rosary. Both videos were collaboratively created by Caritas youth from every region of the world and can be viewed in community on Facebook Live @IAmCaritas at 10am (Rome time) on each Sunday, or any time on the @IAmCaritas YouTube channel.
For each day throughout the week, Caritas youth have created prayer, reflection and action prompts that will guide participants to a deeper understanding of how they value and encounter the poor, and inspire new and innovative ways to serve, accompany, and defend them.
Caritas Internationalis president, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, and head of the Youth Office of the Dicastery of Laity, Family and Life, Fr João Chagas, will also take part in Caritas’ second annual prayer-to-action week. Cardinal Tagle reminds us in his reflection that will be included in the World Youth Day Rosary: “The poor teach us also about the faith, about the Christian faith. Their condition gives them a certain wisdom and understanding of who Jesus is, of who the Father is, of what the community is. And so their wisdom is part of our whole treasure of Christian wisdom.”
To find out more visit www.caritas.org/prayactcaritas to view the reflections, actions and prayers for the week and to download the online resources which include: a printable booklet of the prayer-to-action programme, a World Day of the Poor Mass guide (in English, French and Spanish), Pope Francis’ 2022 World Day of the Poor message as well as his 2022 World Youth Day message. You can also get involved by sharing your photos and messages with Caritas using the hashtag #PrayActCaritas on social media.