Current Issue - Young Adults Exploring a Mission Vocation
   

Much work and Hope - Tsunami Victims Prayer in Focus on Mission::  Justice Hope... and Work ::

 

by Jim Hug

Much work and Hope - Prayer for the Tsunami Victimst the beginning of a New Year, the challenges ahead in justice work are many and very significant. But there is some promising news. There is more fertile ground for the Catholic social vision and strategies and those of the other major faiths than we may realize.

To Have Hope

To have hope
is to believe that history continues on
open to the dream of God and to human creativity.

To have hope 
is to continue affirming
that it is possible to dream a different world,
without hunger, without injustice,
without discrimination.

To have hope
is to tear down walls, to destroy borders,
and to build bridges.

To have hope
is to believe that life wins over death.

To have hope
is to begin again as many times as necessary.

To have hope
is to live.

– Poem from Honduras –

A recent poll (Zogby Poll, Dec. 2004) painted this picture of the American people:

We are highly religious people: 78.7% of us see the role of religion or the Spirit important in our lives.

We are quite evenly split between religious conservatives (24.9%), moderates (28.7%) and liberals (20.8%).

We see the importance of our faith for public issues: two out of three of us regard faith and values as very important in building a just society.

In the last elections, we were more influenced in our vote by the war in Iraq (42%) than by abortion (13%) or same-sex marriage (9%). Fewer of us (21.5%) saw same-sex marriage as the greatest threat to marriage than named infidelity (30.8%) or rising financial burdens (25.3%).

And, surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of us called greed/materialism (32.9%) or poverty/economic justice (30.7%) "The most urgent moral problems in American culture."

This is ground we can build on. The challenge that remains is to present a positive religious message that offers hope to the people… We need to offer a spirituality built on a sense of social grace as well as social sin, a spirituality that promises great joy and richness of life in following an alternative Dream, one that can guide future generations into patterns of living that build solidarity throughout the global human family…

The promise of Christmas and of the New Year is that when we embrace the challenge, we will find the Spirit of God already active there, preparing the ground, inspiring and supporting us, connecting us with each other, leading the way toward a global community in which each and every person can survive, thrive and contribute to the well-being of all. These are the seeds of a sacred Human Dream truly worth giving our lives to… For this we dare to hope! 

Fr. Jim Hug, SJ.– Washington, DC

 

 

What's Your Response ?

Here are some suggestions from the Sri Lanka Bishops for your response on this tragic situation of Today:

To all the people in the affected areas, to be calm and law-abiding and to those inclined to prey on others, to restrain themselves and not seek to profit from the misfortunes of others. 

Those who were unaffected to provide material or financial help as well as psychological support, to all those who are victims. 

To Catholic organizations, engaged in social services in the various parishes to organize such relief for those affected in whichever part of the country. 

To Catholic associations, to organize prayers to ask the Lord give our people the courage and determination to tide-over this calamity. 

We appeal to the International community to come to the aid of the government and the country to relieve the misery of the victims, as the magnitude of the calamity is too heavy for our Country to bear alone.

One up-to-date website on the Tsunami tragic stories and of general news is AsiaNews.it Online, a news agency of the PIME missionaries, with daily news on the Asian continent in Italian, English and Chinese.

  

Dare to Hope

 

 

We dare to imagine a world
where hunger has no chance to show its face.
We dare to dream of a world
where wars and terror are afraid to leave their mark.
We long to believe in a world.

Of hope unchained and lives unfettered,
we dare to work for the creation of a world
where your people are free from poverty.

Dare we open minds to difference?
Dare we open our lives to change?

Your kingdom come, O Lord
Your will be done
Amen.

– Linda Jones –

 

 

Prayer for Tsunami Victims

Dec. 26th, 2004 

‘In my distress I called to the Lord…
You cast me into the depths,
into the heart of the ocean,
and the flood closed round me;
all your surging waves swept over me… 
The water about me rose to my neck,
for the deep was closing over me;
seaweed twined about my head…
I was sinking into a void
whose bars would hold me fast for ever.’
(Jonah 2: 2-6) 

 

We join in the world’s sorrow at the still unfolding tragedy around the Indian Ocean’s shores. 
For those who died in the onrush of the waves, we pray that their souls find rest after the terror of their last moments. 
For the bereaved, we ask comfort, though none can be enough. 
For the injured and sick, and for those struggling to care for them, we ask strength and courage amidst the despair. 
For those whose livelihoods were swept away – the fishermen, the traders, the farmers, the hoteliers – we ask the generosity of the world, not least our own. 
In their distress they call upon the Lord, by whatever name they know the Holy One – and so do we. 
Answer them, we pray. Bring them up from the pit into which they have been swept. Through Christ, the Lord of Life.
Amen. 

– Cliff Reed –

Published - January 2005