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Outreached plea
Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Pentecost – the Birth of the Church that is God’s promise to accompany our community through the Holy Spirit. We also celebrated Mother’s Day.
From both of these celebrations in our community we can reflect on our response to damage caused in Burma by Cyclone Nargis and the tidal surge on May 3.
Being afraid in Burma in these last days has been a reality. People were afraid when the storm came; afraid when the waters rose so quickly; afraid when houses and livelihoods were destroyed; afraid when loved ones were missing and remain so – or were found dead or were found injured. Afraid when no-one seemed to come to help.
Pentecost Sunday is where we say our community of faith is accompanied by God through the Spirit. We need to offer this Spirit to the world. A spirit that allows the Church to accompany our brothers and sisters and not abandon them. This is what signifies our faith.
In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, it was the monks from the Buddhist temples and the Church workers who immediately responded. It is ever the case that in a major disaster that it is the local community who responds first. The local temples and Church organisations which people trust and know are the ones that people go to because they accompany the community and are part of it. It is the temples and Church
communities to which people go not just for material support. They go for the spiritual and emotional accompaniment. It is this holistic response that is so important. For more than 20 years in Burma, Caritas has built on these skills of our local partners.
The temptation today for the international community is to fail in our responsibility to protect and a ccompany the people of Burma. We fear that the aid will not get through; we fear the corruption of a government; and we fear that nothing will happen. These are important questions and they must be answered.
However, they cannot be used as an excuse to not act. We must overcome these fears and remember what and who is at the centre of this crisis. It is the more than 1.5 million people directly affected and the 47 million people of Burma who were already living in a humanitarian crisis. It is their suffering that we are to accompany.
The gifts of our community are numerous and are essential to the building of a civilisation of love. One of the gifts of our community is our ability through Caritas to respond and build on the capacity of our partners in Burma to respond. We are responding not only to the greatest need among the most vulnerable but also looking at the longer term. This is a country that lives on rice and has seen this staple of diet largely removed. Burma, too, is a country that struggles for peace among the different ethnic groupings that had already seen the displacement of close to one million people before the cyclone. Our gifts are to accompany those who are now termed the poorest of the poor (God’s loved ones – the anawim)
Last Sunday we also celebrated Mother’s Day. For the people of Burma the reality is that the loss of so many mothers leaves many children vulnerable. It is also the reality that many mothers lost their children because of the effects of the cyclone. We must accompany them. Caritas through its local Church partners has been caring for children, to protect them from trafficking into sex and labour slavery.
Response of the Church and faith communities is to rescue the hurt, bury the dead but, more importantly, build the community in the years to come which we will do with your generosity. We have a humanitarian imperative to respond to the people. This imperative is not time-bound. These first few weeks are crucial; however, the next two years of
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Faith of Our Fathers By Kamahl
Just released. Click the following songs to listen to them (30 seconds' samples in MP3 formats)
Proceeds in aid of St Vincent de Paul SOCIETY Appeal.
If you would like to buy this album click www.catholicgiftshop.com.au. |
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