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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY

Opening prayer

Creator God, we stand on the shoulders of giants who have fought for decades to eliminate poverty

from our world. Grant us the wisdom to apply what we have learned and committed to this week. May

we forbear in our efforts in anticipation of helping to achieve a just world in which no one goes to bed

hungry and all have access to affordable health care and permanent shelter. Amen.

Scripture passage

Acts of the Apostles 4: 32-35

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions

was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person

among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale,

and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

Reflection

Brian Corbin,Sr. V.P. Social Policy, Catholic Charities USA

Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty marks this

years theme for theInternational Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This theme

highlights a global effort in identifying and securing the participation of those

experiencing extreme poverty and social exclusion.

One of the key messages of the early Church focused on building a community wherein

everyone shared, so that no one had a need. In Actsof the Apostles 4:32-35, we read how

believers experiencing a change of heart and mind would sell off some of their assets

and give the proceeds to the Apostles, who would then ensure that all members of the

community had their basic necessities met. That early Church community worked to build

a society where all were included and no one suffered in their poverty. That early Christian

community aimed to eradicate or at least reduce -- poverty in its midst to the best of its

ability. No one was left out.

Pope Francis in his video tape message to those gathered in Charlotte, NC for the Catholic

Charities Annual Gathering noted that:

We have created a throw away culture which is now spreading. It is no longer

simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately

has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those

excluded are no longer societys underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the exploited but the

outcast, the leftovers. (Joy of the Gospel, #53) [The excluded]are leftovers, they
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are surplus. No one is to be a leftover. No one is to be excluded from Gods love

and from our care. (see

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/08/pope_to_catholic_charities_usa_no_o

ne_is_to_be_a_leftover/1108114#)

The Churchs social teaching, as articulated in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of theChurch, #325, notes that we are called to build the kingdom of God through our solidarity

and sharing, treating each other as brother and sister. The Kingdom of God -- while never

complete here and now -- is sown in the here and nowwith each act of love and mercy.We are called to include those previously excluded. The Church is called to be, in Pope

Francis challenge, a voice for the cry of the poor.

Through our work in Catholic Charities, we help to build bridges of solidarity and sharing

between peoples. We help people to learn, think and act anew about ways of bringing

people together to reduce poverty and build compassionate communities. Catholic

Charities USA promoted its plan to reduce poverty in its 2006 Poverty in America: A

Threat to the Common Good policy paper focusing on five critical pillars: education andworkforce development, family economic security, health, housing and hunger. Catholic

Charities USA continues to search for ways to design programs and social policies that

foster system changing means to reduce poverty that are evidence based and results

driven, along with fostering new and creative private/public and private partnerships and

models.

We continue to work each day in our local services and national presence to reduce

poverty in our country and throughout the world. We can and do learn much when we

accompany those who are under-resourced; we learn much when hear the voice of the

poor about what they need and want, and more importantly, what assets and gifts that they

bring to the table that we all share.

Please join us as we continue in that journey of building the Kingdom of God where no one

is lost but rather all are welcomed to share that joy.

General Intercession

For the intentions of the staff, volunteers, and donors of Caritas Internationalis, we pray to the Lord.

Catholic Social Teaching

Catholic Church. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church ibreria Editrice Vaticana, 2004, #325.

Jesus takes up the entire Old Testament tradition even with regard to economic goods, wealth andpoverty, and he gives them great clarity and fullness (cf.Mt6:24, 13:22; Lk 6:20-24, 12:15-21; Rom14:6-

8; 1 Tim4:4). Through the gift of his Spirit and the conversion of hearts, he comes to establish the

Kgm f G, s h w mr f s f s m pssb, jus, brhrh,

solidarity and sharing. The Kingdom inaugurated by Christ perfects the original goodness of the created

order and of human activity, which were compromised by sin. Freed from evil and being placed once

more in communion with God, (man) is able to continue the work of Jesus, with the help of his Spirit. In
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/08/pope_to_catholic_charities_usa_no_one_is_to_be_a_leftover/1108114http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/08/pope_to_catholic_charities_usa_no_one_is_to_be_a_leftover/1108114http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/08/pope_to_catholic_charities_usa_no_one_is_to_be_a_leftover/1108114http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/08/pope_to_catholic_charities_usa_no_one_is_to_be_a_leftover/1108114


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this, (man) is called to render justice to the poor, releasing the oppressed, consoling the afflicted,

actively seeking a new social order in which adequate solutions to material poverty are offered and in

which the forces thwarting the attempts of the weakest to free themselves from conditions of misery

and slavery are more effectively controlled. When this happens, the Kingdom of God is already present

on this earth, although it is not of the earth. It is in this Kingdom that the promises of the Prophets findfinal fulfilment.

october 17, 2014; "one human family, food for all"

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