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The world has not changed very much since the days when the
author of the Book of Wisdom wrote the passage we read today.
Wicked people still reject spiritual values, and are generally
unjust, particularly towards those who try to lead good and godly
lives in this world. Those who take religion seriously,
especially those who try to live out the Gospel values proposed
by Jesus, will often find themselves at variance with society. In
society, many other value systems operate apart from the value
system of Jesus. These other systems do sometimes promote evil,
so that they are really anti- value systems. Even when they do
not directly promote evil, however, the systems embraced by
society frequently call in question the reality of spiritual
values and oppose the truth of the Gospel. Today's passage from the Book of Wisdom is read during Lent, because we can read it almost as description of the plot against Jesus. Even if we look at Jesus only from the aspect of His humanity, we must recognise Him as the most virtuous of men. Because of His holiness and the truth which He preached, He was rejected by the wicked of this world and put to death. Lord Jesus, may we always walk in Your ways, the ways of virtue and of eternal life. |
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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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