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Lent is not simply a season of repentance for our violations of
God's commandments or a period of retribution for our sins
through penances. It is not merely a time wherein we engage in
actions that will win us back God's favour. The season of Lent
derives its meaning from its relation to the much awaited Easter
experience. Easter is a time of renewal and Lent prepares us for
this renewal. Therefore, the Lenten season, much more than
helping us to rid ourselves of our sinfulness, is a period of
reflection on the values of the Gospel. Our penances must be
external signs of our inward desire to assimilate the values of
the Kingdom of God. In today's Gospel, Jesus spells out another set of values that should permeate the actions of one who belongs to His Kingdom. Jesus begins with the experience of God's compassion. As children of God we are expected to possess the indispensable qualities that our Father in heaven has. Therefore, we too must be filled with compassion. Lent must be characterized by our movement away from a lack of compassion as expressed in myriad ways into being persons filled with compassion. Lord, help me to be compassionate just as You are compassionate. Amen. |
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P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
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That, with the committed help of all believers, the
scourge of poverty may come to an end, eliminating the
intolerable social and economic inequality in the world
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One might also say that poverty is the negation of economic and
social rights and that the poor who suffer from absolute poverty
are denied the most fundamental right which is the right to life.
The international community too is becoming progressively more
aware of the gravity of the problem and has declared solemnly to
fight and reduce extreme poverty by 2015. Besides, how can we not
realise the situation growing worse in spite of the increase in
available resources. The problem of unequal distribution of resources in its correct setting is an ethical one, since it is a problem of justice: the poor are in the first place victims of injustice. In the era of globalisation we can no longer tolerate a world in which the very rich live side by side with the poor, the property less who lack even the essentials with people who shamelessly waste what others desterately need. One of the more evident worrying consequences of this phenomenon is in fact the progressive increase instead of the decrease of inequalities, in both poor countries and rich countries, and between the North and South. Let us pray that the scourge of poverty may come to an end | |
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