by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
I believe that it is by divine intervention – as we begin Respect For Life Week, that the Gospel reading today (Luke 16:19-31) focuses on Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us that the rich man in the parable “embodies the unjust spending of wealth by those who use it for unbridled and egotistical luxury, thinking only of satisfying themselves, without taking care of the beggar at their door.
“The poor man, on the other hand, represents the person that only God cares for…He who is forgotten by all is not forgotten by God; he who is worth nothing in the eyes of men, is precious in the eyes of the Lord. The story shows how earthly injustice is overturned by divine justice…it is during this life that one must repent; doing so afterward is useless.”
Today, Sunday, Sept 26, various faith communities in T&T will gather at the Raja Yoga Centre, Pointe-à-Pierre Rd., San Fernando to observe Respect For Life Week’s Interfaith Service and the IRO’s National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. The theme is: Respect Life: United we stand, divided we fall.
Government plans
Our Gospel reading today reminds us of the need for unity to build the common good and create conditions that will allow the 210,000 plus persons in T&T (2005 figures) who live in poverty to have a place at the table of life.
By the time you read this The Hon Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, will have addressed a meeting at the UN (Sept 21 – 22) on the Millennium Development Goals. A press release issued from her Office before she left, stated that, as Prime Minister, she “will speak to Trinidad and Tobago’s efforts at poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. One of the Millennium Development Goals is the universal eradication of extreme poverty. The Prime Minister proposes to present a comprehensive position on how her administration is tackling this issue.”
I look forward to hearing of the Government’s plans. Good governance requires that we strive to leave no one behind. During his visit to the UK recently, the Pope rightly stated, that “religion has a legitimate place in the public square.” Therefore, if we are to be visible, credible witnesses to the Gospel, we must join forces with our Government and address the factors that constrain progress in integral human development in this land/world of plenty. This involves “building a human community where men and women can live truly human lives … where the needy Lazarus can sit down with the rich man at the same banquet table” (Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 47).
A recent report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that “despite much progress reducing poverty worldwide, a substantial number of the world’s poorest people are being left behind…the very poorest people have benefited the least from substantial reductions in poverty around the world during the past 15 years.”
The report, The World’s Most Deprived: Characteristics and Causes of Extreme Poverty and Hunger, which focusses on people in the Caribbean also, finds that “162 million of the world’s poorest people – the ‘ultra poor’ – survive on less than 50 cents (US) a day… ‘About one billion people today live on less than a dollar (US) a day,’ said Akhter Ahmed, IFPRI senior research fellow and lead author of the report. ‘However, this number masks a multitude of people living in varying degrees of poverty – all of them poor, but as this research shows, some even more desperately poor than others.’”
The report offers several recommendations for policymakers to reduce poverty e.g. “Address the exclusion of disadvantaged groups; Improve access to markets and basic services for those in the most remote rural areas.”
The rich man in today’s Gospel had a really hard heart during his lifetime. Respect For Life Week offers us an opportunity to open our hearts to love our neighbour, to show compassion for those in need. In John 10:10 Jesus says that he came so that we may have life and have it to the full. Each of us is of worth – from conception to natural death. Let us grasp opportunities to build a culture of life. Please use the Prayer Supplement and support the various initiatives this week.
