WORLD FOOD DAY, A Passionist observance in solidarity with the international community

By Fr. Jesus Maria Aristin, CP

According to the estimates of United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) there were 1,020 million undernourished people in the world in 2009, equivalent to one in seven persons alive today. As noted by the FAO Director General, Jacques Diourf, this last year produced “a dangerous combination between a declining global economy and high unemployment rates in many countries, causing an increase of 105 million more people to experience chronic hunger and poverty.”

As a response to this reality, FAO proposed the expression:” Achieving Food Security in the time of crisis” as the motto for the 2009 World Hunger Day.

It would not be a small thing if the celebration of World Hunger Day would produce this result: those who have an abundance of material goods would commitment themselves to a simpler lifestyle, one of reasonable asceticism and share their overabundance with those who do not have the resources to feed themselves. Faithful to our Savior’s recommendation, we pray daily the prayer He taught us. The petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” is in the plural. The Christian knows very well that he or she cannot hide behind an attitude of self serving egoism. Jesus teaches us to be responsible for others in their need. This prayer becomes truly authentic when it leads to a sincere commitment of solidarity in explicit ways.

We also pray that the steps taken to achieve the Millennium Development Goals are motivated by a deep respect for and the valorization of farm workers and their cultures. The 1996 Agreement to Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger proposed to reduce it in half by the year, 2015. The reality is that there are more people with hunger today (820 million) than there were in 1996. This statistic increases by four million every year. (cf. Oración y Servicio, 2008.3)

Faithful to our Lord’s recommendation, we pray the prayer He taught us. We pray to the Father for bread, and we use the plural formula: “give us this day our daily bread.” The “Our Father” is the prayer of communion, which gives us the awareness that we do not approach God only by ourselves alone. Rather it gives us the confidence approach to God in union with one another. We are invited to see the face of God in the face of our neighbor, the neighbor we are obliged to be interested in, especially when he or she is weak and lacks necessary nourishment. Jesus himself tells us, “when you do this to one of my least brethren, you do this to me.” (Matt. 25:40) With this prayer, Jesus gives us the direction to move out of our own egotistical nature and to take on the needs of others as our own needs. It is then when our prayer becomes sincere, leading to a commitment of solidarity which is explicitly expressed.

In solidarity with the International Passionist office of Justice Peace and the Integrity of Creation please take some time to reflect and pray on this issue. After viewing the video below please consider praying the following prayer with your own local community, parish or family. This week’s Passionist JPIC email bulletin will include a fuller liturgical resource for World Food Day. If you would like to receive this email please email me (jdgonzocpp@yahoo.com) to be added to the list.

Leader: Let us quiet our minds and open our hearts to the reality of hunger in the world today. Take a moment to reflect on your own experience of hunger. When was the last time you knew hunger? How did it feel? Recall this feeling and let it unite you with all those who are hungry in the world at this moment. In your prayer bring your loving attention to human beings who are living at the edge of survival due to lack of bread, rice or even a simple meal.

Side One God of Abundance, use our gifts, our creativity to eliminate the harvest of hunger that poverty has sown. Root out the seeds of greed and gluttony within the human heart that choke off the ability to recognize and respond to those who are suffering.

Side Two Through Your grace, provide the nutrients we need to plough and plant, to tend and train the budding vines of compassion and care. May we hear and respond to the cries of millions of men, women, and children who hunger for life itself and are desperate for survival for just one more day.

Side One: Wean us from our normal diet of disregard and empty distraction. Help us to push back from the crowded table of self-preoccupation. Draw us instead to a common table where there is room and welcome for all, where all are fed.

Side Two: Help us to work to ensure that empty bowls be replaced by nourishing bonds of community so that no one is forced to beg at the edge of the road of life.

Side One: In places where war and violence are the cause of widespread hunger, call us to the inclusive table of peace and replace all fear and destruction with just ways to reconstruct security, home, and hope.

Side Two: May our actions and advocacy sow seeds of solidarity so that we might work as one body in Christ to eliminate the scandal of hunger, the politics of food assistance and the death of too many children as a result of starvation.

Side One: Bless the land and all those who work the land. Preserve us from drought and flood, from blight and disease. Grant all farmers increased yields, abundant harvests, sustainable production, and fair prices in the marketplace for these farmers, their families, and their futures.

All: Gracious God, nourish our world with hope and call your people to the table of cooperation. Bless our efforts to work for food security and eliminate hunger so that all might know a harvest of justice. May our attempts to end hunger not be politicized or prophesied, but realized in the sharing of our daily bread. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen

One Response to “WORLD FOOD DAY, A Passionist observance in solidarity with the international community”

1. miss REEM says:

   October 4, 2010 at 1:28 pm

   VERY NOBLE THING!!! THANKS FOR THE VIDEO. can i use it in the wold food day in my country (Kuwait)