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There is a beautiful story told about Blessed Damian of Molokai
in Hawaii. He was the apostle of the lepers; and the most
dramatic moment in his ministry came one day when he was
celebrating mass for them. He began his homily "Fellow lepers".
His people then realized that he had totally identified with
them. He himself had contracted leprosy! The season of Lent, and the first reading today from Jeremiah, point to another bond of unity, of common identity, between us and our "separated brethren". We are all sinners in need of Jesus' saving grace. None of us can afford to be smug or self- righteous. In the Gospel today Jesus concludes His discussion by saying, "Anyone who is not against me is with me." This gives a more ecumenical meaning to the Gospel incident. We Christians, who proclaim that Jesus is Lord, should not spend our time destroying each other in the name of Jesus. Can we meet our fellow Christians (and ultimately all our fellow human beings), with the greeting, "fellow lepers"? Not "you sinners", but "we sinners"? If so, we have grasped the real meaning of our annual Lenten observance. We are all sinners - lepers - before God. We are always on the way to conversion. There can be no pharisaical self-righteousness in those who have a deep sense of their need for the healing grace of Jesus our Redeemer. Lord, bind us in Your love. |
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P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
| INTENTION : |
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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