Tag: hunger

One Human Family, Food for All

One familyAn international —and personal, because it touches the conscience— issue which plagues all people no matter of faith is that of hunger. It is a wretched thing to be without food even for a night. Some 800 million do not have sufficient food. How can I share, live in justice and care for the other person?

As President of Caritas Internationalis Oscar Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga SDB, wrote a letter recently from which I excerpted the following:

Caritas Internationalis launched the ‘One Human Family, Food for All’ campaign before Christmas. The campaign offers an opportunity to answer Pope Francis’s invitation.

We believe that it is a fundamental injustice that over 800 million people in the world are hungry. These people wouldn’t be hungry if there were greater equality in wealth and resources were shared more fairly. Each of us can live more simply, consume less, waste less and be more conscious of our choices. Sharing – our bread, our resources, ourselves – is the cornerstone of our faith and a solution to global hunger.

In the run up to Lent here in Rome, all the children dress up for the tradition of ‘carnivale’. The face of Jesus Christ is also present in many guises and we may not recognise him at first glance. We may ignore his call if we’re not attentive. “He does not reveal himself cloaked in worldly power and wealth but rather in weakness and poverty,” said Pope Francis.

Lent is a call to taste people’s hunger and touch their poverty with our very fingers. It is a time to join hands with our brothers and sisters who are part of the 3.5 billion poor in the world. As the Americans would say, it’s time to “do the math”.

Please support the Caritas One Human Family, Food for All campaign to eliminate global hunger by 2025. You can act by donating online at www.caritas.org or by doing something large or small in your community to help the poor and vulnerable.

Can we support the Caritas Internationalis campaign ‘One Human Family: Food for All’, working towards ending hunger by 2025?

Prayer to end hunger on December 10

Pope Francis has called for people around the world to pray together at noon their local time on Dec. 10 for an end to hunger.
Can we throughout the USA to join the Holy Father’s call to respond to the needs of the poor and vulnerable by praying and working to end hunger?
The global wave of prayer will begin at noon on the Island of Samoa and will progress around the world in each time zone until it reaches the island again some 24 hours and more than 164 countries later.
The prayer vigil marks the beginning of a yearlong, anti-hunger campaign called “One Human Family, Food For All,” which is being organized by Caritas, the international Catholic relief organization, and Catholic Relief Services. This is a concrete way to see our faith in Jesus Christ in action.
More information and resources can be found at www.crs.org.
Let us be in communio, that is, be united in voice, heart and mind, with the Catholic community around the globe to end the scandal of world hunger. Pope Francis’ call to prayer has also resonated with other religious leaders, and people from many faith traditions are expected to participate.
Please consider praying the following prayer at noon on Dec. 10.
O God, you entrusted to us the fruits of all Creation so that we might care for the Earth and be nourished with its bounty.
You sent us your Son to share our very flesh and blood and to teach us your Law of Love.
Through His death and resurrection, we have been formed into one human family.
Jesus showed great concern for those who had no food—even transforming five loaves and two fish into a banquet that served five thousand and many more.
We come before you, O God, conscious of our faults and failures, but full of hope, to share food with all members in this global family.
Through your wisdom, inspire leaders of government and of business, as well as all the world’s citizens, to find just and charitable solutions to end hunger by assuring that all people enjoy the right to food.
Thus we pray, O God, that when we present ourselves for Divine Judgment, we can proclaim ourselves as “One Human Family” with “Food for All.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN.