by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
At the end of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis initiated the World Day of the Poor. The theme for this first year is Let us love, not with words but with deeds (1 Jn 3:18). Let us take his advice, open our hearts and share “with the poor through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity…At the heart of all the many concrete initiatives carried out on this day should always be prayer…This new World Day, therefore, should become a powerful appeal to our consciences as believers, allowing us to grow in the conviction that sharing with the poor enables us to understand the deepest truth of the Gospel. The poor are not a problem: they are a resource from which to draw as we strive to accept and practise in our lives the essence of the Gospel.”
CCSJ wishes to thank our member, Dianne Wells, who played a major role in organising CCSJ’s Day of Caring at the Church of the Incarnation, Maloney Gardens on November 18, the day before Pope Francis’ first World Day of the Poor.
We thank the following agencies that partnered with us to engage in outreach work in the community: Lions Club – Vision Testing; Ministry of Community Development – sharing information about the various services/courses that are available free of charge; TTARP – encouraging persons who are 50 years or over to take advantage of e.g. social activities, health benefits, discounts at over 300 merchants ; NALIS – raising awareness of computer literacy classes for seniors at the local library; Diabetes Association – managing lifestyle diseases; CCSJ (Joseph Timothy, Wells and I ) – raising awareness about the Church’s social justice principles.
Kyle De Gannes. Source: Screen grab from Kyle’s Facebook page.
An error was made in last week’s column as Leeum Quan Kep was actually the third prize winner. Kyle De Gannes, second prize winner, raised pertinent questions on which we should reflect e.g. are we going to church with loud mouths and ice cold, closed hearts? Do some of us have ‘HDC – human deficiency of Christ?’
Breaking news! HDC members needed.
We are all living in a world where atheists are growing in numbers,
And developing questions and theory tales to disable believers.
A fact that contributes to this contradiction,
Are there more followers on social media than religion.
People go to Church with open and loud mouths – ice cold, closed hearts,
Claiming they praise God every Sunday,
I’ll call that person a pro claimer,
Not a proclaimer of God’s word.
We all agree that God is the creator of this universe and everything in it,
But why was a new world secretly developed in a series of galaxy, phones and generations of apple, products?
looking back on what we learnt apple picking always had a downfall,
Now, not only eve pressures people .
We sit in front of tell lie visions that blind us slowly.
But as I observe
churches are empty and the apps on devices plenty,
since internet and technology took over.
Why do you tell us get our heads out of our phone screens and when we raise our heads it’s sad to see you’re simply looking down on us,
Looking down on teenaged parents now we cradle in arms ammunition
Older folks still in the x generation asking y children are like this,
Not knowing they are still part of the equation.
Youths are about to be the leaders of our future,
So if you think turning up your nose going to make us better, but bitter then partner, you have some wild thoughts.
That’s not developing the future,
That’s judging us based on our dilemma.
But if you never thought about things then let me throw out a few points,
Maybe you can hold a youth seminar, inviting all the youths from the block,
Include religious ones as well,
Let them all interact
So that the so called delinquent can feel welcome,
Ask them all
questions let them tell you their story,
Maybe then sing they will know we are Christians by our love by our love yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
I see a question mark floating over your head,
And you wondering at the beginning why I say HDC members needed,
I really meant ‘humans devoted to Christ’,
But in order to develop our people as one,
We need to stop humans ducking church.
Some people lack God and have
HDC, ‘human deficiency of Christ’
But fortunately we have humans who still develop Christianity.
