The World at Our Door
February 19, 2010 by O'Meara Ferguson
Filed under spirituality
Our faith calls us to be in solidarity with human beings all over the world. It is the essence of the universal church to which we belong. We are one family under God.
Does that idea live in our consciousness? Some of us innately have a global awareness; others acquire it through experience. But for many of us, the very real demands of the day, struggles in our personal life and other immediacies give us a full plate of things to think about and pray about.
But then something happens in a near or far corner of the world that places the reality of our global family front and center.
The tragic earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12 is such a moment. We witnessed horrifying destruction and death in a country that is already marked by extreme poverty and suffering. The stories and images of the earthquake have been hard to watch, but they have also stirred the spirit in us, connecting us in a meaningful way with our Haitian brothers and sisters.
This has been evident in our private and communal prayers, our faith sharing talks and in our willingness to share our financial resources with the people of Haiti so that they might survive and heal from this catastrophe. As of this writing, Americans have contributed nearly $140 million to the earthquake relief effort.
The earthquake in Haiti is not the only tragedy near our border that has captured our attention recently. The terrible violence in Mexico resulting from the illegal drug trade perhaps hits even closer to home. Some in our diocese have lost family and friends to this violence, others fear for the lives of family or have, themselves, gone into hiding. So much of our history as a diocese is tied to the Catholic Church in Mexico. Now we see this land plagued by bloodshed, and we carry the pain of our Mexican brothers and sisters with us.
Our diocesan ministry of Social Concerns has placed added emphasis on promoting global solidarity in our parishes. Perhaps the compassion that so many are feeling in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti and in response to the drug violence in Mexico can serve as a catalyst for this ministry. For it is an inevitable fact that there is hunger and oppression and violence afflicting members of our human family in places that we don’t see on CNN or the cover of the newspapers. We are no less obligated to pray for them, to seek justice for them and to keep them in our hearts.
As we prepare this month for our Lenten journey let us travel the desert with our brothers and sisters around the world. This is a time for prayer and reflection as we process the meaning of these international tragedies to our own faith life. And as a result we must decide – what are we willing to do about it?
Please join me in prayer for the consolation and healing of the Haitian people and for an end to the violence in Mexico.
