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Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion 2014 Reflections for Lent PROJECT COMPASSION SUNDAY – 2 March Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34 As Lent begins, on Ash Wednesday this week, we are signed on the forehead with ashes, a reminder that we are in this world for a relatively short period of time. Our principal purpose in this life is to grow in the deep knowledge that God loves us unconditionally – and to allow that understanding and love to flow in us, and through us to others. Christians are called to live in a different way – as Jesus spells out for us in today’s Gospel: ‘Do not worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. … Set your hearts on the kingdom of God first – and all these other things will be given you as well.’ Less concerned for ourselves, we see people as Jesus sees them. Every single person alive today is precious in the eyes of God, with the right to live a life full of meaning and purpose. This Sunday is recognised by the Church in Australia as Project Compassion Sunday. It brings us to recognise that we are Gospel people, carrying the mind and heart of Jesus Christ into today’s world. Project Compassion is a way of bringing unconditional love in a tangible way to people who lack the basic resources of life. Caritas Australia draws its inspiration and energy from the revelation of God’s love. As we become aware of some of the physical needs of our brothers and sisters, Caritas gives us one way to respond, turning our Project Compassion contributions into well-designed programs. ASH WEDNESDAY – 5 March Gospel: Matthew 6:1-21 Today we stand on the threshold of Lent. What will this Lent mean for me? Will I somewhat reluctantly ‘do a bit extra’ for Lent? Or will I take the opportunity to truly ‘repent’, to open myself up in a new way to the transforming love of God? At the start of Lent it is good to remind ourselves that growth in faith is not a matter of doing more, or trying harder. We do not sanctify ourselves – God is the one who sanctifies us. We cooperate in the process by inviting the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts of stone into hearts of grace. We dispose ourselves to be open to God’s transforming love through the Sacraments and through the actions described in today’s Gospel: almsgiving, prayer, fasting. Almsgiving springs from a true perspective on money – to use it to care for my family and for others in need. Prayer is giving God time, inviting Jesus to ‘make his home in me’. Fasting helps me create a space where God can come more fully into my life. All these actions are a response to my deep longing for the Truth that is God. In the Gospel Jesus warns us that we humans have the ability to do good things for the wrong reasons. If we take pride in our actions, then we can defeat the purpose for which we do them. The theme this year for Project Compassion is ‘That you may have life’. It reminds us that only through Jesus can we have the ‘fullness of life’ – which will include sharing our time and gifts in bringing life to others. FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT – 9 March Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11 At the start of his public life, Jesus went into the desert and took time to reflect. He was tempted to take self-serving, comfortable options. He chose not to abandon his vision for justice and life for all. He chose to be faithful to his call to lead all people to a fullness of life, to know God and to love one another. Lent is a time for spiritual reflection. We open our eyes to a wider horizon. Am I open to being transformed by God’s love? Am I reflecting God’s love to others, especially to those in need? Confronted by the extent of poverty in the world, we may be tempted to think that we are powerless. But we are far from powerless when we are part of the Catholic Church’s world-wide response to poverty, led principally by Caritas. Our contributions to Project Compassion fan out around the world to give people access to hope, to have life – and have it to the full. One example is a young Brazilian woman, Maristely, who grew up in a crowded slum, known as a favela, in São Paulo, in a house made of cardboard with no electricity, or water. Now 18, she is involved with Caritas Australia’s partner Movement for the Defence of Favela Residents which is active in 40 favelas in São Paulo to provide, through education and advocacy, access to clean water, electricity, sewerage, and a certificate of home ownership. Maristely tells what the change has meant for her: ‘Being a part of MDF has given me awareness of my dignity as a person, and critical thinking. I know that to live in a favela is nothing to be ashamed of.’ SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT – 16 March Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9 Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Up to the age of 30, he led the life of an ordinary craftsman in Nazareth. The Gospels show him as a person who was easy to approach, enjoyed the company of children, got tired, happily shared meals with others, and wept with grief at the death of a friend. We catch a glimpse of the divinity of Jesus in the Transfiguration: ‘his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white’. The searing light of the Transfiguration confronts us with the quite extraordinary realisation that God, creator of the universe, lives with us. Jesus shows us that as fully alive human beings, the great light of God’s deep compassion can shine through us to others. This week’s Project Compassion story is about a family in South Sudan. Deng and his wife, Aketch, fled into the bush when civil war broke out in 1983. Frequently on the move, they survived precariously on berries and bush meat, not knowing if they could ever return home. To add to their problems, Deng went blind. Now back in their village, Deng and Aketch, have received practical assistance from Caritas Australia and its partner in South Sudan, the Hope Agency for Relief and Development (HARD). Provided with two goats, five chickens, fishing nets and seeds to plant, they are now in a position to earn a little income – and their children are able to attend school. Through us, Jesus continues to bring hope and new life to people like Deng, who are facing difficulties beyond their control. Our generosity, shown through Project Compassion, enables Caritas Australia to undertake these projects. THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT – 23 March Gospel: John 4:5-42 Imagine you drop in to your local shop to get some milk or bread – the sort of thing that you might do any day – and you meet Jesus there! Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? But that’s pretty much what happened to the Samaritan woman when she went to the well to collect her daily supply of water. It was an unlikely meeting to begin with – given the antagonism between Jews and Samaritans – but it was an encounter that would change her life. Jesus crosses a cultural boundary by asking the woman for a drink. Then Jesus opens up for her a new horizon – ‘a spring of water gushing up to eternal life’. It would bring a new perspective on life, seeing people and situations through the eyes of Jesus. Fear is banished. Hope is restored. One’s purpose is clear. New life has begun! Something similar happened for 19 year old Archie from Bulacan Province in the Philippines. With his nine siblings and his parents, he had been living in a one-room, make-shift house, close to a rubbish dump, at the mercy of flooding and typhoons. Then new life came for Archie in the form of an emergency resettlement program supported by Caritas Australia. The family moved to a home in a safer area, and with clean water and a sewerage system. And Archie is delighted to be studying under Caritas Australia’s Alternative Learning System to increase his opportunity for work. Jesus continues to change lives, bringing hope and opportunities for growth to people through the intermediary of agencies like Caritas, supported by the contributions that you and I make to Project Compassion. FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT – 30 March Gospel: John 9:1-41 In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus speaks of himself as ‘the light of the world’. A central theme of John’s Gospel is the contrast of light and darkness. The question for us is ‘am I living in the light of faith or in the darkness of a cocoon of self-focus?’ The healing of the man who was blind from birth emphasises the role of Jesus in making it possible for people to escape from darkness into light. In this powerful story we watch as the faith of the man grows as he progresses from describing Jesus as ‘the man Jesus’, to ‘prophet’, to ‘one from God’ and finally to addressing Jesus as ‘Lord’. When we are in spiritual ‘darkness’, our focus is primarily on ourselves – and our ability to love is limited. As Jesus draws us into the light of faith, our horizon expands and we grow in compassion. We begin to see beyond ourselves, and are drawn by the example of Jesus to attend to people affected by disaster. We come to recognise what Pope John Paul II expressed: ‘Because we are all really responsible for all.’ For people in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, life-challenging events come in the form of floods, earthquakes, landslides and cyclones. Often these disasters occur in the early morning when children are at school. Caritas Australia’s Disaster Risk Management project uses well-known tunes and simple lyrics to teach children what to do when disaster threatens. The program has been rolled out through 35 schools in the Solomon Islands and 22 schools in Vanuatu. Through Project Compassion the threatening fear of these events is significantly reduced. FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT – 6 April Gospel: Matthew 25: 35 In this Sunday’s Gospel we meet Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. They were friends of Jesus, always making him welcome in their home. The death of Lazarus in today’s story moved Jesus to tears – and it brought forth Martha’s acknowledgement of her faith in the power of Jesus, ‘If you had been here, he would not have died.’ Jesus went to the tomb and called, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ The dead man responded, stumbling out of a vault, still wrapped in his funeral sheet. We stand in awe at the power of Jesus to restore the dead to life. Jesus indeed brings the fullness of life. And Jesus commissions us to follow his example, to bring life to others, through the power of the Holy Spirit vested in us. This week’s Project Compassion story is about a First Australian woman. Six years ago, Lorraine discovered she had kidney failure and had to move to Alice Springs, 550kms away from her home community, for weekly dialysis treatment. To keep her spirit alive, Lorraine visits The Purple House, a home away from home. This centre offers traditional cultural activities – including a bush balm program supported by Caritas Australia – to support patients who have been dislocated from their home and culture. This program offers people who are chronically unwell, a sense of purpose, meaning and wellbeing. It gives them the opportunity to pass on traditional knowledge and values, ensuring participants retain connection with their culture. In such a way, through Project Compassion, and our generosity, Jesus continues to restore life to people searching for their sense of home, both in Australia and overseas. SIXTH SUNDAY OF LENT – 13 April Gospel: Matthew: 26:14 Christianity centres around two quite extraordinary events. The first is that the God of the universe, in the person of Jesus Christ, chose to visit our tiny planet, a relative speck of dust in a universe with billions of galaxies, each containing a billion or more stars. The second is that Jesus Christ, the second person of the divine Trinity, was crucified and died on a cross. As we reflect on the Passion of Jesus, we are filled with the enormity of the communication of God that he is God-with-us in all things. Jesus was born into our world, lived life, faced challenges and experienced death. The Jesus, who now calls us to carry on his healing mission on earth, is the Jesus who gave his life for every human person, be they African, Asian, South American or from other lands. It is for us to reflect God’s love to each and every person alive today. When civil war ravaged Sri Lanka from 1983-2009, Nirangini, her 67-year-old mother and seven-year-old son, were forced to flee from temporary shelter to temporary shelter many times. In 2009, thanks to a Caritas Sri Lanka program, supported by Caritas Australia, the family secured a permanent home. With a livelihood grant, Nirangini has been able to start a home garden and small poultry business, providing her family with a good income and nutritious food. Through Project Compassion, Nirangini and many others will come to live a much fuller life in the way God wishes: ‘The glory of God is a human being fully alive.’ EASTER SUDNAY – 20 April Gospel: John 20:1-9 ‘He is risen! The joy of Easter wells up within us and surges out to the world. Jesus is risen from the dead – death has been defeated! The Gospel tells the story of Mary Magdalene going to the tomb early on Easter Sunday morning, and finding it empty. She runs to tell Peter and John. Hurrying to the tomb, they too find it empty. Imagine their confusion as confronted with this astounding evidence, they do not yet realize that Jesus has risen. Often we are somewhat like Peter and John. We know Jesus is the Son of God, but we still do not believe that God is effectively active in today’s world. We think life has to be lived in a pragmatic, functional way where everything depends on us. We forget the words of Jesus, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you.’ Then the Resurrection breaks through into our thinking – the tomb is empty! Divine power has swept aside human limitation. Faced with many challenges in life, we will fail often. Easter is the reassurance that our efforts are not in vain – we too will rise with Christ! As we look out on the world, we see many people crippled by many different experiences of poverty. We yearn to make a difference. Project Compassion gives us the means for participating in the work of Caritas Australia to bring new life to many people. ‘The Risen One goes before us and accompanies us along the paths of the world. He is our hope, He is the true peace of the world.’ (Pope Benedict XVI, Easter, 2009)