Visit should inspire us to reach out to the poor, uplift the brokenhearted

Pope Francis joins hands with members of the congregation at the Safaricom Stadium in Kasarani on November 27, 2015. Very dear and central to Pope Francis is the plight of the poor and the very weak. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • He has led us with his own personal example of embracing poverty, like St Francis whose name he took at his election.
  • In the Vatican soon after his election, he sought to see what can be done about the many homeless sleeping at the columns of St Peters Plaza and in the environs of the Vatican.
  • And to emulate Pope Francis in his generosity and kindness, not just during the few days he was in Kenya, but to continue doing so long after he has left.

Pope Francis has just concluded his visit to our country.

His celebrated visit raises many expectations at all levels.

What will his visit mean to the ordinary Kenyan? What lessons will we learn?

Very dear and central to Pope Francis is the plight of the poor and the very weak.

His visit seems to be the cry on behalf of those who are imprisoned in the many human and social ills.

He has set as a clear wake up call to the world and specifically to Christians that we must be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, we must open our eyes and do something about those in our midst suffering all kinds of adversities.

That the “preferential care of the poor” must go beyond good statements, rhetoric and symbolic gestures.

He has led us with his own personal example of embracing poverty, like St Francis whose name he took at his election.

He has embraced a very simple lifestyle, even in his choice of vehicles and instruments of work.

Moreover he has shown he is very comfortable in the company of the very poor.

He visits prisons and slums in every stage of his pastoral tours, a practise he maintains from the time he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

He shows they are important and that they matter, indeed they are the beloved of the Lord!

He invites Church leaders, bishops and priests to do likewise, and “acquire the smell of the sheep.” That speaks volumes!

DINING WITH THE POOR
Pope Francis has stood out as a fierce advocate for all marginalised and side-lined people — those that society is finding hard to accommodate.

In the Vatican soon after his election, he sought to see what can be done about the many homeless sleeping at the columns of St Peters Plaza and in the environs of the Vatican.

He asked his aides to invite a good number for breakfast with him at Santa Martha where he stays.

When the clergy told him their major challenge was to find somewhere for them to wash or shower, he directed that a battery of showers be made at a corner of St Peters Square, which is now the “cleanliness haven” for the “borboni” or “homeless” of Rome.

Taking a suggestion from the Holy Father, the Roman barbers now offer free barber service to the homeless at the same spot on Mondays.

In this way a number of good hearted barbers donate their day off to give a clean shave to their poor brothers.

The list is endless... And just last week pope Francis opened a “soup kitchen” or place for a free meal to complement the one set up by Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity, just next to the Vatican, complete with a number of beds for the very desperate.

Last week he met the Gypsy community, who are also homeless.

Will the visit of this Charismatic Pope, who now wears the sandals of Peter the Apostle, inspire Kenyans like he inspired the Italian barbers to do more for their brothers living in sub-human conditions?

Will Kenyan leaders be moved to make similar gestures with accompanying commitment?

EMULATING POPE'S DEEDS
The hope and prayer is that once more we, the Kenyan people, will shift our gaze from our “pockets” and “stomachs” to the “eyes” and the “hearts” of the suffering, to see the “empty plate” of our brothers and sisters across the fence, when we indulge in our own “heaped plate”.

And to emulate Pope Francis in his generosity and kindness, not just during the few days he was in Kenya, but to continue doing so long after he has left.

I hear already people have started thinking of forming “pro-poor” action groups in their neighbourhoods and their churches, legacy projects of his historic visit.

Pope Francis’ visit is a herald call to change the lives of our brothers and sisters who are still internally displaced people, to give hope to the children walking in the filthy puddles of the slums, and to those with broken hearts, that there is light beyond this moment of darkness.

That God has not forgotten them, and that the Church will walk with them.

Indeed the Gospel is fulfilled: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”

Kenya awaken to a new dawn!