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  • Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
    • Jun 25, 2020
    • 21 min read

Poverty And Starving Children

Updated: Jun 30, 2020



A Message from the Editor

A child dies every 10 seconds from poverty and hunger which are responsible for the death of 3.1 million children a year. That's nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5.

We need to address this horror by considering extreme child poverty as a ProLife challenge. One way of addressing this challenge is for churches, synagogues, and mosques to adopt and promote an organization that addresses extreme poverty and saves children’s lives and takes up an occasional collection for them. If we can afford an occasional donation to an organization that addresses extreme poverty, we can save some of these children’s lives. For example, one can feed a child in India for $10.00 a month. Please ask yourself if together we can honor Christ’s mandate of sanctity of ALL life.


Pope calls on world leaders to eradicate poverty, hunger. Unfortunately, world leaders have not done a great job in addressing this challenge. Together with Holy Father, we can eradicate child poverty and hunger throughout the world - together we can make a difference. Even small donations like $10 can reduce poverty and feed a child. It is up to us to protect human lives and especially the lives of children,

Here are three priests to whom we recommend sending donations.

Profiles in Catholicism are distributed to several thousand people in 68 countries. We rely on our readers for donations to continue and expand our mission. If you support our mission and find our publication of value, please make a tax-deductible donation.

A Quote to Remember

“The silent cry of so many poor men, women and children should find the people of God at the forefront, always and everywhere, in efforts to give them a voice, to protect and support them in the face of hypocrisy and so many unfulfilled promises, and to invite them to share in the life of the community.”

by Pope Francis


A Prayer to Reduce Extreme Global Poverty












Heavenly Father, We thank you and praise you for the gift of this life. Father at this moment we ask you to bless humanity and lead us to the light. In this world, people are suffering from various disorders. And ultimately the poverty came into existence and people are suffering in it, generations to generations.

Bless all the people those who are in utter poverty, and also bless all the rich people, so that they may help and bring up the poor. Dear lord in this world the problem is that lot of discrimination and also a lot of difference between the poor and the rich, always the poor becoming poorer whereas the rich becoming richest. Bless this world and all the people in it. So that all people can live a decent lifestyle, having the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. So fill us with your Holy Spirit to work for the eradication of the poverty; being guided by the Holy Spirit. We all work for the protection of all human values where we can dream of our world.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayer to End Violence

For all who live amidst bloodshed and violence: that the blood of those who have died may spur the living to work for peace and justice for all people

and an end to terrorism, we pray to the Lord.

A Prayer for Elizabeth McAlister

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

by Martha Hennessy Profiles in Catholicism


It is the truth that can set us free from the darkness of lies the deception of intrigue, the corruption of greed and evil, and those who take that stand for truth will truly suffer as you did Lord Jesus. Give strength and courage to Maria and Renaldo who fight for truth and justice.

Stand with them and us Lord Jesus, as we proclaim the truth in writing, in proclamation, in raising a prophetic voice for the poor and the oppressed, taking a stand with the wretched of the earth, the excluded, the abused and wrongly jailed for that is what you did, what you taught, lived and died for.

Give your love and the power of truth to sustain Maria Ressia our sister and Reynaldo Santos Jr. members of our family of writers, journalists, and all who are a voice of reason and justice.

You Lord suffered an unjust and shameful trial and were condemned by false witnesses, for speaking the truth, for doing good, striving to bring the Kingdom among us, and changing a corrupt society.

Sustain Maria and Reynaldo in their legal battle for justice may they see freedom from a corrupt system and may your love of justice inspire the judges and bring their appeal to a peaceful and just end. Amen

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer for Andres Guardado and for Us All

Merciful and just Lord,

we pray for the soul of Andres Guardado

who was shot by a police officer

and died.

May he rest in your heavenly Peace.

May his family be consoled in their grief

and by all in his community.

May all ethnicities, races and religions

in his community and throughout the nation

join together to pray for him.

And for justice for him

and for all Americans.

Lord, help out nation come together

to work together for justice and peace.

We pray, together, that need reforms

in our police departments

be worked out

by citizens, public officials, and police departments

working together to create a society

with affirms and respects the lives of all,

citizens and police alike and equally.

by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism

THE CARING AND THE CARED FOR – A MEDITATION

Let’s just relax a bit.

Perhaps close our eyes.

Let our mind’s eye remember Jesus and his disciples.

They have finished preparation for the Passover Supper.

The Passover – this takes us back to the time of Moses and the suffering of

our ancestors in faith experienced in Egypt. They had it so bad.

But back to Jesus and his disciples.

Jesus reminds them/us:

“I have eagerly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer.”

Jesus says to them/us: Take this cup and share it.”

Jesus tells them/us: we are to suffer with him, yes with him.

Jesus then blesses the bread reminding them/us” This is my body.”

Jesus continues, reminding them/us:

“The one who is to betray me is at hand.”

The disciples ask: Does he mean me? They are upset.

How is this possible?

Who is responsible?

Lord, grant that I will be faithful.

Jesus assures them/us.

He shows them a different way.

He tells us: “I am with you as one our serves.”

Whether I lie helpless in my bed needing help,

Or leaning over a bed as one who serves,

Jesus assures us:

“I am with you.”

“I am with you as one who serves.”

(Luke 20)

by Father David O. Brown, O.S.M.. Profiles in Catholicism

Loving Father,

We bring our tragedy to you, dear Father, for help and direction. While much of the world focuses on the coronavirus pandemic, many migrants continue to die on the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Italy. In the latest incident, authorities say that the bodies of 46 people have been recovered off the coast of Tunisia. The tragedy happened after their boat capsized near the city of Sfax at the weekend. Hold them in your embrace loving Father as we pray for their souls. Bless the rescue workers, many wearing masks because of the coronavirus pandemic, dealt with another crisis. Bless the officials who suggested that that the death toll from a ship packed with African migrants that sank off the Tunisian coast here rose to scores of people.

Help their loved ones and all those affected by this incident. With most bodies from this latest tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea now being recovered,

there seemed no hope that any one of the 53 people on board survived. The accident, near the Tunisian city of Sfax, ended the dreams of migrants who wanted to make the crossing to Italy start a new life in Europe. Bless their desire Lord for a new life. Help them to rest in your heavenly home now and forever. by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer for Archbishop Moses Costa, of Bangladesh, Chattogram, suffering from the coronavirus[1]

Moses the Shepherd

Dear Father of your Shepherd-Son,

You witnessed His suffering

And He rose from the dead

And, as one, you sent us the Holy Spirit.

You witness, too, the suffering of a Chief Shepherd,

Once isolated and now, like many others, hospitalized.

His flock, few, amidst many whose income has dropped,

He is like a sign of our need for your providential care.

Dear Shepherd, Son of your Almighty Father,

You know the terrible immobility of the cross,

The circumstances that overwhelm us with difficulties

And hold us fast in the struggle to survive.

Be close to who cannot escape the thorns and nails

That drives the reality of people’s lives into our hearts

And bless us with fresh hope, help and the inspiration

To rise again, like your Shepherd-Son.

Dear Holy Spirit, Gift of the Father and the Son,

Breathe a-fresh your animating breath into this,

Your Chief Shepherd, his flock and the many others

Who share in our everyday problems and opportunities.

Oh Holy Family, as you passed through many trials yourself,

You know the needs of fathers, mothers and their children,

Those orphaned, abandoned, exploited and vulnerable,

Widowed, weakened, discouraged, and debilitated:

Visit each with the grace for all and build us up a-new!

Visit our society and give us cooperation beyond

What we are capable of, enrich our imaginations

With a glorious hope in the Church and the help of others.

by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism

Heavenly Father,

Please welcome this troubled boy from The Philippines into your loving embrace where he will know your infinite love for eternity. Also, grant all of us more sensitive to our children's mental health and help them in their time of need.

by Gordon Nary Profiles in Catholicism

Prayer for Dismantling Racism


Dear God, in our efforts to dismantle racism, we understand that we struggle not merely against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities – those institutions and systems that keep racism alive by perpetuating the lie that some members of the family are inferior and others superior.

Create in us a new mind and heart that will enable us to see brothers and sisters in the faces of those divided by racial categories.

Give us the grace and strength to rid ourselves of racial stereotypes that oppress some of us while providing entitlements to others.

Help us to create a Church and nation that embraces the hopes and fears of oppressed People of Color where we live, as well as those around the world.

Heal your family God, and make us one with you, in union with our brother Jesus, and empowered by your Holy Spirit.

Amen.

A Prayer in the Time of Plague

Avinu Malkeinu, Dear God in Heaven, protect our families, our friends, and our neighbors as we negotiate these troubled seas in which we find ourselves afloat. Ever mindful of the fact that we are all Your creatures, we turn to You for guidance and for strength as we pray that the public officials charged with bringing us through this crisis be granted wisdom, intelligence, and insight born of compassion and charity. And we pray too that the physicians, nurses, and hospital employees who are on the front lines be spared all distress and disease as they care for the stricken, for the elderly, and for the infirm. Most of all, we pray that You look with kindness and generosity on us all, and particularly on those already infected for whose recovery we this day ardently pray, as is written in Your holy Torah, “For I, the Almighty, am the source of Your healing.” Amen, may such be Your will

Interviews

General Articles/Commentaries

A Special Poem

Prayerful Thought

"The future is full of promise, Holy Mystery,

if only because we discern your forces of

evolution at work everywhere.

Every opening daffodil, every growing child,

every glimmer of human enlightenment,

every bodily process of healing

tells us the future is not fearsome

but is full of potential.

Your face is hidden, your name unknown

still we turn to you in faith and confidence.

Creating Evolutionary Spirit,

we hear your comforting voice

in the steady music of the unfolding creation,

in harmonies and dissonances of

the world around us

into which we pour our humble efforts.

We give thanks to exist,

and to be in some way the joy of your heart.

Amen."


Please support one of our organizations, colleagues, and friends who need help

Book Reviews/Commentaries

Film Reviews/Commentaries

Television Reviews/Commentaries

  • Watchmen Commentary by Namwali Serpell The New York Review of Books

  • Spinning Out Reviewed by Pamela Hill Nettleton U.S. Catholic

  • Gentefied Reviewed by Antonio De Loera-Brust America

  • The Chosen Commentary by James Merrick, Ph.D. Angelus News

Feasting with the Saints

Closing Prayer


A Prayer for Those Who Have Made Donations to Profiles in Catholicism

God most kind,

Bless all those who have supported Profiles in Catholicism

with their donations and kind words of support.

Let their generosity bear much fruit.

Let those of us who benefit from this publication

be ever mindful of them and grateful for their gift. Amen

by Father Louis Cameli Profiles In Catholicism


Videos

Nariokotome - a documentary for mcspa

Frf 2018 en


India the republic of hunger


Working woman testifies about the reality of poverty in u.s

The lives of kids living in the landfill dump in Tijuana Mexico.

Witness - Martha Hennessy

Do smartphones control and program the human race with artificial intelligence?


If you have antibodies, can you contract COVID-19 multiple times


Ats webinar-black lives matter: where do we go from here

Anti-blackness and the catholic church

Our lady: humanity is hanging by a thread


Discalced Carmelites friars choir, Nairobi- the banquet of the lord

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