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Prayer for the week
Let us pray for the will and ability to help the poor, says Tim Pike
The Vincentian Family prayer for systemic change We praise and thank you, O God, Creator of the Universe. You have made all things good and have given us the earth to cultivate. Grant that we may always use created things gratefully and share them generously with those in need. Give us creativity in helping the poor meet their basic human needs. Open our minds and hearts so that we might stand at their side and assist them to change whatever unjust structures keep them poor. Enable us to be brothers and sisters to them, friends who walk with them in their struggle for fundamental human rights. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Fr Bob Maloney CM THE Company of Mission Priests (Faith, 11 July) is part of the worldwide family of clergy, religious, and lay people who look to St Vincent de Paul for inspiration in an attempt to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Vincent is a compelling figure, even now, nearly 350 years after his death. He is best remembered for two things: his zeal for the proper formation of the clergy, and his practical care for people who were materially poor. Most CMP priests minister in challenging parishes, but it is fair to say that political campaigning is probably not our forte. Fortunately, other agencies in our Vincentian Family are strong at advocacy on behalf the poor. This prayer has been written recently by Fr Bob Maloney, an American Vincentian and former Superior General of the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Mission. It is a prayer not just for people in poverty. It asks God to give us courage to ask why people suffer poverty, and to challenge the structures and prejudices that keep the poor poor. This theme of “systemic change” is the focus of the Vincentian Family’s prayer and work today. The first sentences of this prayer are affirmations of the goodness and generosity of our Creator God. They form a critique of the complacency of people who see the world and its resources purely as commodities for our exploitation. By contrast, Christians believe that we must be grateful stewards of what God has given us. When we begin to realise that all is gift, we start to question how it is that some have helped themselves to the lion’s share of God’s beneficence, while others languish in need. The prayer asks God for the grace to ask those questions, and grace to recognise in the suffering face of the poor the image and likeness of Christ our brother: Help us, dear Lord, to stand side by side with our brothers and sisters who are poor. I think the Church appears at her most beautiful when we do stand alongside the poor. My parish experiences of seeing Christians at work — befriending asylum-seekers in Camden Town, or helping residents of Hornsey YMCA find their way into permanent accommodation — make me sure this is true. More is required of us than helping out at the coalface, however. This prayer asks the Father for help “to change whatever unjust structures keep them poor”. How can we break down whatever diminishes this poor person? Of course, this is a political question. But it seems to be no more than a logical step from our prayer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It cannot be God’s will that abject poverty and injustice go unchallenged. This might entail lobbying our MP about debt-relief or unfair international trade arrangements, or simply taking care to buy fairly traded goods. This prayer encourages us to ask questions about poverty, and to act on our conclusions. Only then, Fr Maloney’s prayer suggests, can Christians begin to think of themselves as brothers, sisters, and friends to the poor, and not just patrons or benefactors. So thanks be to God for those, like the Vincentian Family organisations, who do not just feed the poor, but ask why they are hungry. Fr Tim Pike is Vicar of Holy Innocents’, Hornsey, and Warden of the Company of Mission Priests. |
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