Give us this day
our daily bread
Second Part

We need an active prayer " Give us this day our daily bread." I've often been reminded of the parable of Jesus regarding the rich man Lazarus. There is a woman who regularly comes to my gate for money for food-to whom I give habitually. She is a hunchback, frail woman, can hardlywalk. She is the image of a "Lazarus at the gate."

The word in the prayer that is decisive is the pronoun us -"Give us this day our daily bead." It is not give me, but give us.

I stressed the importance of us in the U.S.A. when I was asked to speak to a group of Christian in Portland, Maine. (Ironically I had just been fed with lobsters before I went to the service.) They had gathered from churches food for the needy in other parts of the world. They planned all kinds of ways to serve money for the needy of the world such as reducing the number of pets in their homes, and even reducing their food budget. And at that service I realized the sense of oneness of those people with the hungry people of our planet earth. And the word us in the Lord's prayer was given prominence.

I have just been reading the report on the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Manila-Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. It is of great interest to our people that his emphasis is God's preferential concern for the poor, particularly the poor's need for food, for their daily bread. He is speaking of the Filipinos' corporate petition "Give us (the Filipino people in this era of the wide gap between the rich and the poor) the bread for our bodies." He said in an interview with the Union of Catholic Asian News a few days after he received his appointment:

"Yes, it is more with fear that I approach this new task, which the church has given me, "I am told the archdiocese has more poor people than middle class. So, what causes anxiety is that I'm going to be pastor and shepherd to people who are also very poor. A lot are hardly surviving, a good number are in squatter districts and some live under bridges along canals. That's what I mean when I speak of fear."

Is there a chance? Is Cardinal Rosales the one to deliver us, Filipinos from our serious case of mass malnutrition, mass starvation, mass economic disparity? Yes, if he proclaims to our people in word and deed that "those who have much in life must live simply in order that the masses will simply live." If he reverses the fastest-growing population growth in the world. If he influences the politicians of our land to give up their pork barrel advantages in favor of developments that would greatly benefit our "Lazarus-at-the-gate" society. TO BE CONTINUED*

back to top