Pope Francis says to give up not caring about other people

Pope Francis’ powerful guide for Lent this year instructs everyone to give up not caring for others. 

This past Wednesday marked the beginning of the Catholic Lenten season, which is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. Even more fundamentally, it's a time of self-examination and reflection.

Today, many Christians focus on their relationship with God, choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.

Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) June 19, 2015

As the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis provided guidance to religious followers, but his lesson has universal appeal. 

In his Lent message, the pope reflected on the Bible’s story of the Ash Wednesday Mass, in which Jesus warns against practicing good works just so others may see them.

Image: io9

The pope reasoned, “True love, in fact, is not an outward act, is not in a paternalistic way to give something to quiet the conscience, but to accept those in need of our time, of our friendship, our help.”

This is a concept that can apply to all global citizens regardless of their religious beliefs.

Francis  teaches a lesson about the motivation behind acts of kindness and charity. Caring for others is not meant to be something you do in order to make yourself feel better. Or to feel like you’ve just done your part and can go home.

The drive and motivation to help others is deeper than that.

Pope Francis asserts that our drive to help others should come from love and friendship. And that requires people to be able to identify with those they want to help.

Image: wikiCommons

Because it is easy to look at another person, or community as a stranger and just give up when your efforts aren’t immediately recognized or validated.

But what if the person you were helping was your sister? Your parents? A friend?

Would you give up on helping them just because it was challenging, or seemed futile?

Probably not. Most people would all do everything humanly possible to protect the ones they love.

Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) June 19, 2015

In his homily, Pope Francis describes Lent as a time "to train ourselves to be more sensitive and merciful" to others.

However, his message is not constrained to the 40 days of Lent or for just the Catholic community.

It is a message for all humanity.

There will be times when the struggle against the injustices of the world, like something so tremoudnous as extreme poverty, seems to be overwhelming. But we must not give up on eachother.

Now is the time for a change in mindset and to stop pretending that our actions do not affect those who suffer from hunger.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) July 15, 2015

It is imperative to remember the connection we all share as citizens of the world. To remember that we take action to change the world not for our own gratification but for everyone’s improvement.

These actions may take months or years to have their full impact but if everyone follows the ideal to act out of love, friendship and a universal connection, then we will never tire in our efforts to deliver a just world free of extreme poverty.