Safiata Abore. (CRS photo)
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of today’s humanity. People’s paths are riddled with suffering, as everything is centered around money and things, instead of people.” (Pope Francis, from his TED2017 (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk, delivered April 25 at the Vatican.)
The Story of the Good Samaritan, especially in Lent, directs us to be concerned less with “money and things” and more with the vulnerable people whose paths are “riddled with suffering.” This Lent, many parishes such as St. Michael Parish in Kona, the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa and St. Stephen on Oahu, are using grants from Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl funds to connect their food ministries with those struggling with hunger by sustainable projects such as community gardens or hydroponics.
Other parishioners have responded to Pope Francis’ call to “share the journey” of migrants by joining the 200 volunteers who helped 150 legal permanent resident migrants in Hawaii become citizens. Others responded to the U.S. bishops call to support DACA “dreamers” whose families are being split up by the threat of deportation. All these are examples of how Lent is a time to deepen our understanding of connections.
CRS Rice Bowl materials for Lenten prayer, fasting and acts of mercy help us focus on connections. For example, migrants and refugees often flee their homelands because of connections to natural or man-made disasters. This year’s Rice Bowl program provides a “story of hope” — encountering God in creation — as a family struggles to overcome the connections of drought and civil war in Burkina Faso in West Africa.
In Burkina Faso, the combination of violent warfare and a dry, dusty climate means farming can be difficult and water hard to come by. And it means Safiata Abore and her family often face hunger. Even with two plots of land to farm, months without rain made feeding her nine children and 16 grandchildren difficult. That’s why CRS is providing farmers like Safiata, 58, with more land to grow crops that thrive in dry climates, like onions. And thanks to a CRS-sponsored irrigation system, she knows she’ll be able to sell some at the market.
“I pay school fees thanks to selling the vegetables,” she said. “The vegetables help solve the problems my family faces.”
A polluted river, poor soil, rising waters — these environmental factors combined with military conflict contribute to family migration. They remind us to work together to care for creation and for each other.
The 2018 Rice Bowl materials connect Safiata’s journey to the Stations of the Cross and Jesus Falling for the Second Time: Safiata relied on rain to water her crops. Without it, her whole family fell into hunger. It’s easy to take water for granted. Lord, help us respond to falling water sources by working to sustain water as a gift for the good of all.
This Lent let us keep in mind the parable of the Good Samaritan as the story of “today’s humanity” as we focus on how our lives are connected to each other through our collective response to our brothers and sisters suffering from natural and man-made disasters.
Please visit www.crsricebowl.org to watch a video and learn more about Burkina Faso. Go to www.officeforsocialministry.org/ricebowl and www.catholichawaii.org/ricebowl to find out more about Rice Bowl activities here in Hawaii.
For more information about the U.S. bishops call to support DACA and family-based immigration please see https://justiceforimmigrants.org. And for information on what you can do to share the journey of migrants here in Hawaii go to http://www.officeforsocialministry.org/lenten-action-for-dreamers/.
All these resources can help us apply the Story of the Good Samaritan to our journey this Lent and beyond. Mahalo,
Your friends from the Office of Social Ministry
