A PRAYER SERVICE: FROM KNOWLEDGE TO ACTION

OPENING PRAYER

Compassionate God:
Open our hearts that we may feel the breath and play of your Spirit.
Unclench our hands that we may reach out to one another in openness and generosity.
Free our lips that we may speak for those whose voices are not heard
Unblock our ears to hear the cries of the broken-hearted.
And open our eyes to see Christ in friend and stranger,
That in sharing our love and our pain,
Our poverty and our prosperity,
We may move toward that peace and justice which comes from You
And so be bearers of divine reconciliation. Amen.

Annabel Shilson-Thomas, UK, in “Celebrating One World.”

Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world’s citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy.

Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes #4

If the population of the world were shrunk to 100 people, it would look like this:

"Perhaps the most pressing question of our day concerns the relationship between the economically advanced countries and those that are in process of development. The former enjoy the conveniences of life; the latter experience dire poverty. Yet, today people are so intimately associated in all parts of the world that they feel, as it were, as if they are members of one and the same household.

Therefore, the nations that enjoy a sufficiency and abundance of everything may not overlook the plight of other nations whose citizens experience such domestic problems that they are all but overcome by poverty and hunger, and are not able to enjoy basic human rights."

Pope John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, #157

REFLECTIONS

When all the people asked John the Baptist,
“What must we do then?” he answered:
“Anyone who has two tunics,
he must share with the one who has none,
and anyone with something to eat must do the same.”

Luke 3:10-11

There are certainly situations whose injustice cries to heaven. When whole populations destitute of necessities live in a state of dependence barring them from all initiative and responsibility, and all opportunity to advance culturally and share in social and political life, recourse to violence, as a means to right these wrongs to human dignity, is a grave temptation.

Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, #30

 

Group Activity: Who Owns How Much?

1. Line up ten chairs in a row across the front of the room, facing the participants.

2. Ask for ten volunteers. Identify one person who will represent the “Wealthiest 10% of the World’s Population” and give that person a sign to wear with “Wealthiest 10%” (choose someone who is tall and can take up as many chairs as possible when prone).

3. Ask the volunteers to stand one behind each of the chairs. Explain that each chair represents 10% of the world’s wealth and each person represents 10% of the population of the world.

4. While students are standing in a line, one behind each chair, explain that this is what wealth would look like if it were evenly distributed in the world: one person, one chair.

5. Explain that you will play music and that will start everyone walking around the chairs. When the music stops, the ten people must sit in the chairs according to the actual distribution of wealth in the world, which you will post as everyone is walking.

6. Start the music and ask everyone to begin walking around the chairs. Place signs on eight chairs in a row: “Reserved for the Wealthiest 10%.” On two of the chairs, place signs saying “For those who are not the wealthiest 10%.”

7. Stop the music and see what happens.

8. Announce that the “Wealthiest 10% of the World’s Population” owned 84 % of the all the wealth in the world by 2000 and the bottom 90% owned the remaining 16%.

 

REFLECTIONS:

1. Ask the volunteers the following questions:

· How are you feeling at the top of the world’s income group?
· How’s life at the bottom?
· Did you try to push others off the chairs to make room? Why or why not?

2. Suggest to the nine that perhaps their condition is their own fault. Perhaps if they worked harder, they wouldn’t be in this spot. Ask for responses to these suggestions.

3. Ask the entire group what became clearer about poverty and solidarity from this activity.

4. Finally, ask: “And now WHAT?… What ACTION do you come up with…:

· You, personally?

· And as a Group?

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Open our eyes, O Lord, to the needs of our brothers and sisters who lack the basic necessities of life.
We pray for the billions who are hungry, who do not have clean water or health care or adequate housing.
Make us aware that so many live without the things we consider basic.
Give us the wisdom to understand the causes of such poverty and how we can be a part of the work of transforming unjust structures so all your children can be called to the table and share in the fruits of your Creation. Amen.

Adapted from a prayer by women of Brazil