Do we actually believe in the idea of having fish on Fridays as a form of self-mortification or solidarity with those who have less? Or do we look at it more like paying our taxes — giving up the least possible amount?

The Rev. Júlio Lancellotti is São Paulo’s designated vicar for street people. He has been posting images of spikes and other elements of hostile architecture gathered from cell phone photos or video from all over Brazil.

“It is good to think about the fact that Jesus himself worked and had learned this craft from St. Joseph,” Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience. “Today, we should ask ourselves what we can do to recover the value of work.”

“All the prices are ridiculously high,” said Manuel Jeremías Ake, a father of six in California. “We were struggling to buy what we could afford. But now, forget about it. I’ve never seen anything like this in this country.”

Jesus said the poor will always be with us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t end homelessness.

Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon founded Mustard Seed to serve the most vulnerable people on earth: abandoned children and adults in low-income countries with severe mental or physical disabilities.