Hunger Symposium - Role of the Church Against Starvation

Side 1

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It is now my distinct honor to present His Eminence John Cardinal Kroll, the man who
 
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brought us all together, His Eminence the Archbishop of Philadelphia.
 
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Thank you, Dr. Milady, for the charge you made of holding me responsible to that charge
 
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I plead innocent.
 
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There are many people who have worked diligently and efficiently, and they are the ones to
 
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whom any credit that might be deserved must be attributed.
 
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Your Eminence Cardinal Knox, your Reminences, your Excellencies, my brother priests, revered
 
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sisters and dear brothers and sisters in Christ, a cordial welcome to you.
 
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You help to lend purpose and effectiveness to the goals and objectives of this Eucharistic
 
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Congress.
 
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We had the liturgical services yesterday, but I assure you that this particular conference
 
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is an essential ingredient of the total Congress, hungers of the human family.
 
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I know that there have been many conferences, symposiums, held on hunger in the world.
 
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I would hope that this one would be just a little different, that it would have a
 
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dimension which is distinctive and proper to the theme of the Congress, the Eucharist,
 
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the sacrament of Christ's love.
 
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And I would hope that in your discussions and in your conclusions that you would reflect
 
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the charity and the love of Christ.
 
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I say this because we all have a tendency to point the finger of accusation and place
 
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blame.
 
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And who of us is free of blame?
 
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We can point to the big nations for their opulence, for their indifference.
 
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We can point to some of the undeveloped nations for lacking the will and the determination
 
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to attend to some of their own problems.
 
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We should not assume that anybody is helpless.
 
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They face difficult conditions, yes.
 
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But this tendency towards placing a finger of accusation, I would hope, would be at least
 
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restricted if it must be to specific targets.
 
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The broad sweep of the brush, the generalizations about the good guys and the bad guys helps
 
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nothing.
 
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We in the United States acknowledge that there is so much to be done.
 
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And yet if you look at the record, there is no nation in the world that has done as
 
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much, tried as much as has the United States in being sensitive to other peoples.
 
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It hasn't done all that it can.
 
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I'm not suggesting that.
 
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But incidentally, this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
 
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And we have to in charity understand that we are the responsible people.
 
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Our legislators are sensitive to us, and they are inclined to say that foreign aid never
 
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gains votes.
 
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But we must reflect our concerns to them, our true concerns in charity, in love, and
 
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help them to know that this is a responsibility of ours and a responsibility of theirs.
 
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And I plead with you, attend all the problems with truth, with justice, but above all, with
 
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the charity and the love which is signified by the Eucharist and which in this theme
 
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should dominate and govern your discussions and your conclusions.
 
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Again, thank you for your presence, and please do all you can to attend to this very vital
 
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ingredient, vital element of the Eucharistic Congress.
 
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Thank you.
 
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God bless you.
 
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It is my distinct pleasure to present Bishop de Souza, the Bishop of Baroda, India.
 
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Your Eminence the Papal Legate, Your Eminence Cardinal Skidmore of Philadelphia, my Lord,
 
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Archbishops and Bishops, Monsignor, I, fathers, sisters, brothers, and dear friends, the frightening
 
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fact of material hunger and malnutrition is glaringly clear to all of us.
 
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We need only to open our eyes to the misery of the disgusting sites of slums and our years
 
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to the agonizing price of suffering humanity, to the utter frustration and loneliness of
 
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the people who in solitude silently look into the future and see no hope.
 
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On the other hand, when we are told that two-thirds of the world's population go to bed hungry
 
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every night, we are dazed at the magnitude of the problem.
 
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We cannot visualize or even comprehend the true picture.
 
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We are apt to call it an exaggeration.
 
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The tragedy is indeed universal and revolts against two Christian sense.
 
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They are not imaginary crowds, but individuals with their proper name, human dignity, feelings
 
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like any other human being, conscious of their rights and duties.
 
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They are daily seen searching with sunken eyes and distended bellies for a morsel of
 
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bread or bone in the garbage containers placed near five-star hotels of the concrete jungle
 
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of our cities, or going about in the dense forest to look for roots or wild berries to
 
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satisfy the gnawing pangs of hunger.
 
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Perhaps we often look at such sites with the eyes of the Pharisee and the Levite in the
 
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gospel of the Good Samaritan and pass by unconcerned.
 
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These are not made-up stories of missionaries engaged in preaching the word of God, but
 
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are stark realities that face them on their daily rounds.
 
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They have to sit down and listen to the problems of each individual who has his own sad story
 
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to tell.
 
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It is admirable that most often the individual is not concerned about his own suffering or
 
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strength or health.
 
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He is worried about his children.
 
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He sees them starving.
 
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He is prepared to work, but he is already worn out and weary from anxiety and unemployment.
 
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He has to drag his limbs to find and work for three days to be able to feed his family
 
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for a day.
 
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He is already a victim of tuberculosis, the result of malnutrition from his early days.
 
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When we say that people die of hunger, we mean that they live under inhuman conditions
 
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and die of various types of diseases, the root cause being hunger.
 
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How are we to tackle this universal tragedy?
 
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As practicing Christians, we have the word of life and the bread of life.
 
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We have to break and share it as Christ did.
 
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Do more and talk less.
 
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Pray both in word and in deed.
 
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If there is anything which became clear as a result of the Second Vatican Council, it
 
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is the idea that our pilgrim church is one of service, that Christianity is social or
 
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it is nothing, Cardinal Schuhert.
 
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That we are to take an active prayerful interest in what is going on in the contemporary world
 
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at international, national and local level.
 
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Unless we become part of the mainstream of life, we shall abdicate our Christian heritage.
 
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What a Christian ought to do was explained to us by Christ when he instituted the divine
 
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Eucharist at the Last Supper, love one another as I have loved you.
 
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Unless Christians everywhere carry out these ideals of love and service in their daily
 
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life, the grand statements of the Council will ring hollow or even worse, stand and
 
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speak out in condemnation.
 
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You are my friends if you do what I command you, St. John chapter 15, verse 14.
 
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Hence, if Christianity means anything, it means the breaking down of all sorts of man-made
 
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barriers, frontiers, divisions of nations, caste, class, color, creed and social standards,
 
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militating against the Holy Eucharist, the sacrament of love, prayer, service and unity.
 
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Frontiers and divisions of all sorts are the direct result of sin, human narrowness
 
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and selfishness that lead to exploitation from which God made man, liberated us to share
 
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together God's own goodness, solicitude and sincere sympathetic concern and love.
 
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I have compassion on the multitude.
 
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As true patriots of the new heavenly Jerusalem, our attachment is no longer local, racial
 
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or national but human and supranational.
 
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We fight not for our country but for civilization of love and secure by individual and cooperative
 
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organization the development of our resources for the greatest benefit of mankind to meet
 
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and to satisfy the immediate needs to overcome hunger and disease.
 
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The reason and the will of the universe work to the human individual who can see and understand
 
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the forces of the environment, foresee their operation and regulate them.
 
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We need to be continually, continually trained in and reminded of the ideals of the sacredness
 
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and supremacy of spiritual life.
 
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The sense of the brotherhood of mankind and love of peace.
 
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Christ wants us to transform the earth into his image by the practice of the spiritual
 
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and bodily works of mercy.
 
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Indeed, it is only by being so that we can become true sons to the father and heirs to
 
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eternal life.
 
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For as Christ has said, I was hungry and you gave me food.
 
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Naked and you clothed me.
 
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Stranger and you made me welcome.
 
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I enter therefore into the eternal joy of my father.
 
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How can I ever call myself by the holy and distinguishing name of a Christian when I
 
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have what is given to me and refuse to share it with my brother in want?
 
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Christ does not tell us to give one out of twenty or to give what is surplus or give
 
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after making provision for many years to come unto the third and fourth generation.
 
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Christ tells us to share in a meaningful way what we have today with the needy of today.
 
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This is not a modern theology or the so-called black theology of liberation.
 
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It is the traditional Christian theology of liberation to be admitted to real reconciliation
 
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with God and exonerated from the sad destinies of sin.
 
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To be raised from the fertility of evil and the darkness of death.
 
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To have been engaged in the plan and in the school of love.
 
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You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person, Sir St. Ambrose.
 
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You are handing over to him what is his.
 
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For what is given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself.
 
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The world is given to all and not only to the powerful and to the rich.
 
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If we want to change anything, we have to start with ourselves individually as Christians,
 
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as privileged members of the body of Christ.
 
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It is not a change in structures that changes our life.
 
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At best, it can make it easier.
 
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We can be sure, however, that whenever and wherever there is new life lived in Christ,
 
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the old man-made structures certainly change or crumble.
 
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When a man becomes a new creature in Christ, his old life has disappeared.
 
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Everything has become new about him.
 
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Saint Paul to the Corinthians.
 
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If therefore we seriously live the gospel of Christ,
 
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we are in an excellent position to help change the situation
 
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and solve this universal revolting riddle and tragedy that afflicts mankind.
 
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By and large, we are the ones who have accumulated control and direct the finances.
 
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It is a lame excuse from the Christian point of view to say,
 
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I have earned what I have the hard way.
 
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I have obtained all within the law.
 
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I have deprived no one of what is his, etc.
 
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But the liberating truth is, if I have so much and others have nothing,
 
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I am an unjust steward in the eyes of God
 
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and a fake Christian before Christ and before the world.
 
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I am not witnessing Christ.
 
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Why should we wait for the problem to be tackled and solved at the international level?
 
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We cannot afford to wait for international action to take place.
 
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It is true that we can and should contribute to create a world opinion
 
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and pressure that demands such an action.
 
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Urgency, however, demands that we do something on a personal and group level.
 
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The need of today is action and not the mere passing of resolutions.
 
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It is in keeping with the apostolic age and tradition.
 
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We have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles,
 
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but we have certainly heard a great deal about their acts.
 
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We simply have to take the gospel seriously
 
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without making an exercise of the words of the gospel
 
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and literally give and share of what we have with those who do not have.
 
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It is Christ who still wonders here in our midst,
 
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who stands appealingly and knocks at the door of every human heart,
 
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which is all too often securely locked by the heavy and unbreakable locks of selfishness and greed.
 
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Unless we open them from inside, it is impossible for him who longs to enter
 
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to teach us the simple but sublime lessons that will help us to solve the problems of our social life,
 
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namely the defeat of selfishness, the intelligent awareness of the needs of others,
 
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and the wider observance of the law of forgiveness,
 
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the law of forgiveness, the triumph of perfect brotherhood.
 
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The saving story of Jesus has no end.
 
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He is the true light, arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world.
 
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This is what our Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore sings in The Poor Man's Wealth.
 
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If the spirit is clear and the love sympathetic, compassionate and profound,
 
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we can work in the world, keeping faith with that high vision which we call God,
 
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who alone can satisfy all human hungers, but to you and me.
 
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We are his chosen instruments and resource persons.
 
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He teaches us that truly saintly souls, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect,
 
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are sensitive to men's sufferings and feel life burden as their own,
 
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and have compassion on the multitude.
 
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We must use the supreme privilege of life in order that the creative energy of the universe
 
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may come alive in us in Christ, may clothe itself in our flesh,
 
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realize itself to our consciousness and conquer the environment.
 
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How much to give?
 
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Do good to a friend before you die and reach out and give to him as much as you can.
 
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In other words, our generosity and sincerity in our Christian belief,
 
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practice and faith in the loving providence of God is the measure.
 
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The present situation cannot possibly exist in a world that takes and lives Christianity seriously.
 
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With the amount of good and well-to-do Christian families spent during its regular annual holidays,
 
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a poor Christian family in a poor country can live the whole year the human way.
 
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The vast majority can never dream of a vacation or relaxation in their lives.
 
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But more important than giving is the actual care that brings cure.
 
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Appeals are made and responded to all over the world to eradicate hunger and disease caused by malnutrition.
 
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People are mindful of others.
 
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The many campaigns in various countries, United States of America, Germany, England, Australia,
 
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France, Switzerland, Spain and several others bear ample testimony to the deeming love of Christ in action.
 
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Christians see the suffering Christ in the person of the poor and sincerely seek to relieve the misery of men.
 
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Almost simultaneously, the merry killing goes on.
 
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The situation, dear friends, is bound to remain bleak
 
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till we begin to look at humanity the way Christ does,
 
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with an understanding of the rich variety of the people of God and their special manner of reflecting God's image.
 
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This demands that we understand and appreciate the diversity of needs, problems, gifts and desires.
 
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It requires that we love, encourage, forgive and edify each other by doing good to all and to the building up of the body of Christ.
 
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It is a divine call to compassion, forgiveness, encouragement and support in a world in which we are not perfect.
 
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But the law of the Lord is perfect.
 
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It revives the soul.
 
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The rule of the Lord is to be trusted.
 
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It gives wisdom to the simple.
 
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Be you perfect as your heavenly, as your father in heaven is perfect.
 
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This calls for much supernatural strength and grace as it often requires that we waive our rights and privileges.
 
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It requires that we expel our misunderstandings, which come more often from lack of communication than from deliberate wrongdoing.
 
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In the divine Eucharist, Christ cares and gives himself wholly to us to be transformed into his own body and blood,
 
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so that his own sacred blood may run in our veins and we become saviors, no matter to what social status or to what nation we may belong by virtue of our accidental birth.
 
223
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It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us.
 
224
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Thus, Christ destroys all social barriers, caste and class systems.
 
225
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:09,200
We hear of the crowds who flocked around Jesus.
 
226
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They came because Jesus really cared about them and he had resources to meet their needs.
 
227
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Recall his love in the touching story when he compassionately stretched out his healing hand to the man covered with leprosy, a much dreaded disease at the time.
 
228
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When had anyone touched this man?
 
229
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Jesus gave him the touch of brotherly friendship, which was the touch of healing too.
 
230
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Jesus was able to go beyond caring to meeting the man's need.
 
231
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This is the gospel with the Pilgrim Church has been given to proclaim and live by with an assurance that she will work greater miracles and wonders.
 
232
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This is why the needy and the non-Christian world look confidently to the Christian world for the caring and healing hand of fraternal friendship.
 
233
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When we eat sugar, its sweetness is directly experienced.
 
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The sweetness of living as meaningful members of the body of Christ is experienced in the same direct manner here.
 
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That is why Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, once remarked,
 
236
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If you want to bring Christ to India and India to Christ, practice your religion without watering it down.
 
237
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I like Christianity and I love Christ, but I do not like the Christian who are so un-Christlike.
 
238
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Make love the basis of your Christianity because Christ wanted it to be so.
 
239
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He had in mind a society based on love and human values and he called it by the name of Sarvadaya, the rise of all.
 
240
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A society in which the good of all is achieved.
 
241
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This involves the giving of those who have to those who have not.
 
242
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It means, in other words, the sharing of the good things of the world among all men.
 
243
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Our devoted and dedicated sisters, brothers, priests, and voluntary lay workers reach out to other people
 
244
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with the healing touch of love and friendship in many hospitals, orphanages,
 
245
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leprosy, educational institutions, asylums, and ashrams, etc.
 
246
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Through them, the caring of Christ and his curing power is made known.
 
247
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What is more, by their example of self-sacrifice, Christ lives in them
 
248
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and others get introduced to him who has the resources to meet their needs.
 
249
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But how small is their number among teeming millions.
 
250
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More important than all the material resources, therefore, is the present day pressing need for millions of hands
 
251
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to elevate hunger and to bring the healing touch into the lives of others.
 
252
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Behind every misery and trial, we see the love of God uniting the hearts of men.
 
253
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That same love will see us through fair weather and fall, the future ray of hope.
 
254
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We are saved by hope, says Saint Paul.
 
255
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Suffering and trials draw us nearer to the cross of Christ and bring us closer together to one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
 
256
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What is important is to find a way for a united, concerted Christian action
 
257
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to fight the demon of hunger and malnutrition by achieving without delay
 
258
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that unity which Christ long and ardently prayed to his Father,
 
259
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that they may all be one so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
 
260
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Divisions among us, beloved, generate suspicion.
 
261
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We have had enough of beautiful speeches and slogans in our manifold conferences and endless seminars.
 
262
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It is time to rediscover our path, to make words and facts agree in a spirit of sincerity.
 
263
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It is a rule of life that sincere love and the accomplishment of every duty involve a sacrifice.
 
264
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Christ brought salvation to the world by his supreme sacrifice on the cross,
 
265
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the memorial of which he has left us in the sacrifice and sacrament of the divine Eucharist
 
266
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to be commemorated and lived effectively unto the end of time.
 
267
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He said, do this in commemoration of me.
 
268
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He broke and gave his broken body so that we Christians, the privileged members of his body,
 
269
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may in turn break our bodies and our man-made structures and share with the broken members,
 
270
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the hungry and the needy, to give strength to their weak and weary limbs and vitality for their spiritual needs.
 
271
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Greater love than this no man has that he lay down his life for his fellow men.
 
272
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When one can suffer and love, one can do almost anything, even things which in this world seem impossible.
 
273
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Charles de Foucault.
 
274
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Christ likened his kingdom on earth and in heaven to a banquet.
 
275
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In this parable, we have clear signs of the shape of things to come.
 
276
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He invites the leading and prosperous citizens, but when these spurn his invitation
 
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and bring forward all sorts of excuses not to share, he invites the poor and feeble,
 
278
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the blind, the lame and collects all and sundry to share and enjoy the good things provided.
 
279
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There is greater unity among the poor, for one always informs the other where bread is to be found.
 
280
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The parable shows clearly what is already taking place in some parts of the world
 
281
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and echoes our Lord's word on the mount,
 
282
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blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 
283
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Where these poor are found, whether among the people of God or in any land,
 
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they are welcome at the master's table, but the proud, self-sufficient and the selfish will be excluded.
 
285
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Sheer materialism in whatever form degrades humanity.
 
286
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Men are composed of matter and spirit, and the proper balance between the two must be maintained
 
287
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if they are not to dehumanize themselves.
 
288
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Men's material needs must be directed by those of the spirit, supernaturalized by the grace of God.
 
289
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Man needs the spirit of God, the spirit of love and unity, to direct his energies in the right direction.
 
290
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If he allows love of things to stifle the spirit, he is destroying his true humanity.
 
291
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Our world needs saints, scientists and saviors.
 
292
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It is indeed tragic that in a world where God is so bountiful,
 
293
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in which he has provided so much for our legitimate enjoyment,
 
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we for a transitory satisfaction of human greed, pride and passion,
 
295
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let death and destruction go on relentlessly.
 
296
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Sanctity teaches us true enjoyment.
 
297
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It demonstrates how scientific advance is intended to help men on their way to God,
 
298
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to the festive banquet predicted by Christ, the divine savior, over which God will preside forever.
 
299
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I have earnestly desired to eat this fasso with you before I suffer,
 
300
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for I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
 
301
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With the lowly and gentle mastery of Christ, we confidently look to the future.
 
302
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His faithful witnesses in the persons of noble souls and saviors,
 
303
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like Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier, Robert de Nobili, Bessie,
 
304
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for the constant livings of the Adivasis of Chotanakpo,
 
305
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Father Damien of Molokai and others, have been down the centuries our hope for a finer and better world.
 
306
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Our modern world is not lacking in such self-sacrificing persons.
 
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For in our present day, we have in India Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the world's slums.
 
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APPLAUSE
 
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For Vinoba Bhave, who still drags his old and weary legs in Padyatra,
 
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seeing the image of God-made man in the poor and suffering of this world,
 
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who are still being scourged by man's inhumanity to man,
 
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we should therefore march forward unitedly with courage and hope in Jesus Christ,
 
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the way, the truth and the life, the true light sent to shine on everyone coming into the world.
 
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I should like to end my little talk on the prayer that we recite before noon today.
 
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Father, creator of all that is good, you have called men to work in your world
 
316
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and by their cooperation to better the condition of mankind.
 
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Grant that we may always work together as children of your family
 
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and love all men as our brethren to Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
319
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APPLAUSE
 
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This is the end of side one. To hear side two, turn the cassette over now.

00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000
We now go quickly to another part of the world.
 
2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,960
And it is my honor to present as the third and final speaker
 
3
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,560
in this panel a voice from Africa, the Most Reverend James
 
4
00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,480
Sangu, the Bishop of Mbeya, Tanzania,
 
5
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who has spent all of his priestly life
 
6
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,000
in that East African country.
 
7
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:26,960
Those of us who know Bishop Sangu
 
8
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:29,680
know that he too has a message for us.
 
9
00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,280
I am pleased now to present Bishop Sangu.
 
10
00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:55,700
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write,
 
11
00:00:55,700 --> 00:00:58,040
I know your works.
 
12
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:05,040
Behold, I have opened before you a door which no one is able to shut.
 
13
00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:11,720
I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied
 
14
00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,680
my name.
 
15
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Because you have kept my word in patient endurance, I will protect you in the hour of trial, which
 
16
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:26,000
is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell upon the earth.
 
17
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,000
I am coming soon.
 
18
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:34,880
Hold fast what you have so that no one may steal your crown.
 
19
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This is from the book of Revelation.
 
20
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You reminisce the papal legate.
 
21
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:50,520
You reminisce Cardinal Crow, the angel of Philadelphia.
 
22
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:59,200
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the fact that the 41st International Eucharistic Congress
 
23
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:07,280
is celebrated in Philadelphia got me for a very special meaning when I was reading the
 
24
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:12,000
book of Revelations, which I just read to you.
 
25
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It is as if Almighty God himself poses a challenge to the whole church gathered here in modern
 
26
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:25,160
Philadelphia to celebrate this Eucharistic Congress. The purpose of the
 
27
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Eucharistic Congress is to gain a deeper understanding of the mystery of the
 
28
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Eucharist for us Christians in the first place but also for our world of today.
 
29
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God poses challenge when he says, I have opened a door, I have opened before you
 
30
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a door which no one is able to shut. He challenges us here to go through this
 
31
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door, to go out into the world, to implement in the world what we are
 
32
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celebrating in the Eucharist. Let me try to explain this challenge. The Christian
 
33
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community is a sacrament of Christ's active presence in the world. Jesus Christ
 
34
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in the Eucharist just before he left our world, and because he left the world and would no
 
35
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:30,520
longer be visibly among us. During the Last Supper he said, still a little time I'll be
 
36
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with you, but after that you will not see me anymore. But don't be afraid, although
 
37
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:43,680
I go, I will be with you until the end of the world. The Eucharist is the sacrament
 
38
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of Christ's presence in our world.
 
39
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Usually, this is understood that Christ is really
 
40
00:03:50,380 --> 00:03:54,920
present in a consecrated piece of bread.
 
41
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But it has a much deeper meaning than this.
 
42
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He instituted the Eucharist as a sacrament of communion
 
43
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between him and us.
 
44
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Through this sacrament, Christ and we are united, become one.
 
45
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,720
He is in us and we in him.
 
46
00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,720
He becomes incarnated, as it were, in us.
 
47
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He becomes visible again for people living nowadays in us, Christians.
 
48
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This means that the Christian community represents Christ for the people with whom we live.
 
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represent not in the sense that himself cannot be present
 
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and therefore has sent us in his place to replace him.
 
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Represent here means to make Christ present again
 
52
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for the people living now.
 
53
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This is a great mystery full of sense.
 
54
00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,960
You remember how Christ during the Last Supper
 
55
00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:02,120
told his disciples,
 
56
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I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.
 
57
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In Christ, our invisible God has become visible.
 
58
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In Christ, God himself came to live with us among us.
 
59
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A little later, Christ added, in that day,
 
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when you receive the Holy Spirit,
 
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you will understand that I am in the Father,
 
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and you in me, and I in you.
 
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In other words, just as the Father is one with Christ, so are we, Christ's followers,
 
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one with him.
 
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You in me and I in you.
 
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As the Father lives, speaks, works in Christ, so Christ lives, speaks, works in us.
 
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During the Last Supper, Philip at a certain moment asked Christ, Lord, show us the Father.
 
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Jesus has talked so much about the Father, and the disciples prayed to him,
 
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show us the Father, that we may see him.
 
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And Christ answered him, Philip, how long have I been with you?
 
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Do not yet, you do not understand that who sees me sees the Father.
 
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I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.
 
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We celebrate the Eucharist as the sacrament of our union with Christ.
 
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Should it not be true also that when people ask us, show us Christ, let him be here among
 
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us, that we can answer, who has seen us has seen Christ.
 
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He is in us and we are in him.
 
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For the people living now, we are Christ.
 
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We are not just Christians, we are Christ.
 
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That is the meaning of these words.
 
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The Christian community is the sacrament of Christ's real and active presence in the world.
 
81
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The mission of Christ is the mission of the church.
 
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Jesus Christ became man, not just to be present among us.
 
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He was sent on a mission by the Father.
 
84
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Throughout the Gospel, Christ shows very clearly this sense of mission, and his whole life
 
85
00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:35,120
consists in fulfilling this mission which he had received from God.
 
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He obeyed it even until death, and nobody could stop him.
 
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During the first days of his public life, he entered the synagogue of his own town,
 
88
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Nazareth, and read from the Bible, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
 
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He has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.
 
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00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,380
He has sent me to proclaim the release to the captives and
 
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recovering of sight to the blind,
 
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to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
 
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to proclaim that this is the year of the Lord.
 
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He knew that God has sent him to start the kingdom of God here
 
95
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:22,440
on earth, the kingdom of justice and peace and love.
 
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And when he started to announce the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand, people
 
97
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from all over Judea flocked to him, full of hope and expectation.
 
98
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And when he saw that big crowd before him, he said to them, rejoice, you people of this
 
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world, for the kingdom of God is yours.
 
100
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Rejoice you who are hungry because your hunger will be stilled.
 
101
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Rejoice you who are weeping because you will be comforted.
 
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But woe to you who are rich because you have received your consolation.
 
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Woe to you who have everything you want because you will be hungry.
 
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to you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep."
 
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And instantly, the order of people recognized him as their savior, their messiah, their
 
106
00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:25,640
redeemer.
 
107
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On every page of the gospel, we see how he cured the sick, fed the hungry, comforted
 
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the afflicted.
 
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And when John the Baptist, cast in prison, heard about him, he sent his messengers to
 
110
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ask him, are you the one we have been waiting for, or shall we wait for another?
 
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And Christ answered him, go and tell John what you have seen and heard.
 
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The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead
 
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are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
 
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Now is it amazing that people who heard Christ and who saw his works went crazy for joy,
 
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crying Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord?
 
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What is the mission of the church today?
 
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The good news which Christ came to announce to the world is as relevant now and is as
 
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eagerly awaited now as it was 2,000 years ago.
 
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And people all over the world are as full of hope and expectation as them, waiting for
 
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their Savior and Redeemer.
 
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And their Savior and Redeemer are we, the Christians, the Church of Christ.
 
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We are their Christ.
 
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And the Eucharist we are celebrating is a testimonial that we and Christ are one, that
 
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His mission is our mission.
 
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I fully well realize that I have selected in the Gospel one aspect of the salvation
 
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which Christ came to bring to the world.
 
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But it is nevertheless a very real aspect.
 
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Through our theological reflections, we have become accustomed to spiritualize the gospel,
 
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and we have lost the understanding of its full human dimension.
 
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Christ came to serve a liberate man, not just his soul.
 
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When poor people over the world read the gospel, they are grieved by the same feverish expectation
 
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as those who heard Christ for the first time.
 
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But at the same time, they are often bitterly disappointed in us, his followers, his church.
 
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They expect to see in us Christ, their Savior, their Redeemer.
 
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And what do they see all too often?
 
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The Pharisees and Sadducees who crucified our Lord.
 
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What is the situation of the world today?
 
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When we look at the world today, we see that the great problem of the world is the enormous
 
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difference in living standard in the third world and the rich industrialized countries
 
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of the West.
 
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This situation is well known and documented.
 
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It contains a double injustice.
 
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First of all, the fact that some nations are extremely poor and others excessively rich
 
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is not right, is not just.
 
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It should not be like this.
 
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Secondly, and what is worse, many of the poor countries
 
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are and remain poor because they are exploited and abused
 
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by the rich industrialized nations.
 
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These enrich themselves at the cost of the poor countries.
 
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It has been a rather recent development
 
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that our world has become very small.
 
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Formerly, Europe was considered the world.
 
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In America, the new world.
 
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They had hardly an idea that there
 
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were other people living in other parts of the world
 
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until they discovered them.
 
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These people existed already for ages.
 
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But for Europeans and Americans, they
 
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did not exist until they discovered them.
 
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And to discover them meant to take possession of them,
 
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as you do with the property which you find along the road.
 
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Since then, things have changed tremendously,
 
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especially since explorations were shifted from foreign
 
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countries to outer space.
 
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Our world has become very small.
 
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It is now as if we are now living in the same house,
 
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one human family living in the same room.
 
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If in one and the same family, one child grows fat on all the
 
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food it wants, consuming more than it needs,
 
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wasting precious food, or rather another child in the same
 
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family is starving, is sick, without medical care, does not get a chance to improve its
 
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lot, everybody would cry out that this is not just, that this is a criminal. But this
 
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is the situation in the world today. Historical explanations of how this unjust situation
 
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unjust situation that came about does not justify it.
 
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Looking at it from a human point of view,
 
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it comes down to this.
 
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The lot which awaits you in this world
 
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depends on the spot where you happen to be born.
 
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If any of you are millionaires, had been born somewhere
 
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in African bush, you would now have well walked in rags
 
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behind a few red cows.
 
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It just depends where you happen to be born.
 
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Whatever the historical circumstances and cause of the
 
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utter inequality in living conditions between the two
 
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various nations of the world, this situation is not just, and
 
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it has to be rectified.
 
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And it has to be rectified by those who are able to do so,
 
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that is, the rich industrialized countries.
 
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In international affairs
 
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and international trade,
 
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the developing countries
 
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are still almost completely
 
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at the mercy of the developed countries.
 
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This dictates the world market.
 
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They fix tariffs and quotas.
 
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They determine the prices of raw materials
 
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and primary products.
 
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They establish the prices of the processed products.
 
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They determine the monetary system and control of the circulation of money
 
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through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
 
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The present economic world order is geared
 
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not towards justice for all,
 
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but towards economic growth of the industrialized world.
 
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And one of the basic principles of this world order is
 
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that as long as you make profit for your own purse,
 
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it does not matter that you plunder others.
 
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In international trade,
 
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the developed countries determine the rules of the game.
 
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And the rules are such
 
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that they serve the interests
 
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of the industrialized countries.
 
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These are bound to win.
 
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The people of the third world
 
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realize more and more now
 
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that the only means to save them from perennial poverty and hunger
 
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is the creation of a new international economic order
 
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based on mutual agreement between all nations
 
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aimed at equal justice for all
 
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through equitable distribution of the world's riches and resources
 
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to replace the old economic order
 
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which is unilaterally imposed by the industrialized countries,
 
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aimed at their own economic progress.
 
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But it became clear again
 
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during the last UNCTAD
 
225
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conference held in Nairobi this year
 
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that the industrialized countries
 
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did not want to hear about this again.
 
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The result is that the poor remain poor,
 
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that the hungry remain hungry, that the sick remain sick,
 
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that the gap between the living standard of the people in the Third World
 
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and of the industrialized countries continues to widen instead of diminishing.
 
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As long as the industrialized countries do not agree to a new international economic order,
 
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to eradicate the causes of poverty and to establish justice,
 
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No amount of aid will be able to eliminate hunger from the world.
 
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A poor man is not helped much by a piece of bread,
 
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but only by giving him the chance and opportunity to make his own living.
 
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The Eucharist and the hunger for bread.
 
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Dear brothers and sisters of Christ,
 
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the Spirit of the Lord is upon us.
 
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He has anointed us to preach the good news to the poor,
 
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to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
 
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In the Eucharist, we celebrate our union with Christ.
 
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He is in us, and we in Him.
 
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We are Christ for the people living nowadays.
 
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The people in the third world look at us, hear about us.
 
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And our son John sent his messengers to Christ
 
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to ask him, are you the one we have been waiting for,
 
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or must we wait for another?
 
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So they ask us, are you our Messiah, our Savior,
 
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our Redeemer?
 
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With the church, Sacrament of Christ's active presence
 
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in the world, what do we answer?
 
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Can we also answer as Christ did, go and tell John
 
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what you have seen and heard?
 
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What do the people of the Third World see when they look at us?
 
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They see us as part of the Western world.
 
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They see us comfortably installed in the industrialized nations which continue to exploit them.
 
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If we really understood the Eucharist,
 
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if we really understood our mission in the world today,
 
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all of us who dress in protest against the powerful rulers and governments of this world
 
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in defense of the poor. I appreciate it very much as a token of our goodwill that this
 
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evening a mass will be celebrated as the poor man's supper. I appreciate the generosity
 
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the generosity of many Christians here in the United States who have decided to fast
 
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and to give their savings to the poor.
 
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But if we really wish to be the saviour of the poor and the hungry, the whole church
 
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should start a campaign to pressure our governments to change their policy.
 
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If we are really possessed of love for the poor and oppressed as Christ was, if we really
 
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are on the side of the weak and exploited, we would start a movement in this world, in
 
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our countries, to change the national egotism and greed for wealth. We can change the world.
 
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change the world. Maybe the powerful and wealthy will abuse us. They may crucify us for our
 
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zeal, but then we are in good company. That is what they did to Christ.
 
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To the angel of the Church of Philadelphia, write, I know your works. Behold, I have opened
 
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I have opened before you a door which no one is able to shut.
 
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Through this Eucharistic Congress here in Philadelphia,
 
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God has opened a door before us,
 
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the door which leads to the poor and hungry of this world.
 
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Dear brothers and sisters, let us not shut this door.
 
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Thank you.