No, it did not change the way I see poverty. It confirmed it. But question 3 makes me recollect so much.
1st Station. The death penalty is revenge. It did not act as a deterrent when we had it in Canada. But when Saddam was executed I was not upset so I am guilty of revenge. We are meant to forgive but how do you forgive Mugabe?
2nd. "Show us ways we can share our resources with our sisters and brothers." Amen to that.
4th. Is about human trafficking.
5th. "Many Franciscans work .... battling structures that cause suffering." When you do that you are working for justice, to deal with the causes rather than treat the symptoms which is what charity does.
7th. I have visited Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. There are huge mounds that are graves. Some have plaques that read "Hier ruhe 5,000" (Here lie 5,000) or a lesser number. I was in a community in Chiapas, Mexico 18 months after a massacre of 45 people and saw bullet holes in the houses. The survivors are the people I send my coffee sale profits to.
9th. is about globalisation.
10th. is about migrants. I am one and I live in Vancouver! My parish was originally Slovak then Italian and is now Phillipino.
So to me this way of praying the way of the cross is about reading the signs of the times and going from gospel to life and life to gospel. Oh, and Francis was about looking after the "minores" - the lesser ones, the poor, marginalised and oppressed. And praying for them. If we do not, we should not pretend to be Franciscans.
Pax et bonum,
Andrew
JPIC
