Tag Archive for ‘poverty’
And Just Who is my Neighbour?
Roma Termini is the main central transport hub in Rome, and as such it tends to attract many of the city’s unwanted – migrants, the homeless, and the otherwise destitute. Many of these people ‘camp’ in the piazzas and streets around the station. On Saturday evenings, students from the Society of Mary’s Theologate go to […]
World Day of the Poor – 15 November
The late Bishop John Mackey of Auckland is quoted as often saying, “It’s a sad and sinful world”, and it is. Much sadness is a consequence of poverty, and much poverty results from greed and sinfulness. Even though “humankind cannot bear very much reality” (T S Eliot, Four Quartets), we need to be aware of […]
Social Justice Week 6-12 September
Catholic social teaching articulates a vision which springs from Scripture and has taken shape down the centuries. It is a vision that takes as its starting point God’s creation of human beings “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27). It keeps in mind the covenants of the Old Testament and Our Lord’s parables […]
Monday 17 June
ELEVENTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Psalm 98; Matthew 5:38-42 The poverty of gospel living Christian poverty is not about a lack of material wealth. Rather, Christian poverty is about the renouncing of one’s self-importance and a readiness to acknowledge the rights and needs of others. Jesus challenges us to serve rather than […]
Tuesday 8 January
1 John 4:7-10; Psalm 71 (72): 1-4, 7-8; Mark 6:34-44 Poverty Five loaves and two fish. What we have and who we are might well seem quite inadequate in the face of the tasks that present themselves. Our poverty and limitation is only part of the picture. The other part of the picture is the […]
Friday 31 August
1Corinthians 1: 17-25; Psalm 33; Matthew 25: 1-13 Oil check or candle purchase June and July were very tough at Challenge 2000 where I work. Car accident deaths, attempted suicides, suicides and poverty stretched our resources and gospel commitment to serve those on the peripheries. Humming the song “Give me oil in my lamp, keep […]
Tuesday 14 August
St Maxmillian Kolbe Ezekiel 2:8-3:4; Psalm 119B; Matthew 18:1-5, 10-14 Akahoa he iti he pounamu – although small, a treasure Too many of our children live in poverty. Too many of our young people commit suicide. Too many of our girls and boys are sexually abused. Too many fail at school. Jesus says to us […]
Friday 11 August
St Clare Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Psalm 77; Matthew 16:24-28 Giving all Poverty is not about ‘having nothing.’ It is about ‘giving all.’ There’s a big difference. I am no good with nothing; I cannot help anyone, maintain, provide or change anything. St Clare embraced poverty with a generosity that enabled her to give of herself, helping […]
150 Years of Generosity, Service and Compassion
The Society of St Vincent de Paul When Pope Francis described the kind of church he would like to see, he could have been talking about the vision that inspired the Society of St Vincent de Paul. ‘I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty,’ said Pope Francis, ‘because it has been out […]
Friday 28 July
Exodus 20:1–17; Psalm 19; Matthew 13:18–23 Abundance Data on traditional cropping systems at this time suggest that a cropping yield would average about sevenfold to elevenfold. If such is correct this parable has an unexpected twist for ‘some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty’ are unusually abundant crops anticipating the yield of God’s just reign […]
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