Actually, it was more like our ancestors let three pokémon die in the blaze that engulfed the temple dedicated to Lugia, and then said ancestors reacted very badly to their resurrection via Ho-oh, despite their extreme despair over the death of these pokémon. So Ho-oh decided that the following generations don’t deserve its presence until humankind is capable of living in harmony with pokémon in general again, and it left the beasts behind to watch our progress.
In other words, we don’t ask Ho-oh for things because the last time we did that, we angered it so badly it flew away and hasn’t been seen in Johto since (except supposedly for one unusual circumstance, but quite honestly, I’m not entirely sure if the kimono girls were being literal there).
Of course, we still honor it with festivals, but that’s mostly a gesture of helplessly throwing offerings at it with the hope that this would placate it. Granted, it’s been four hundred years since Ho-oh was in Johto, but there’s always the hope that this year…
The Pokédex According to Bill 