This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
The United States Department of State’s Feb. 6, 2024 “Report to Congress on 2024 Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment Pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act” stated that Gabon, Iraq, Lebanon, and El Salvador continue to restrict the rights of imprisoned trafficking victims.
Police in India have arrested seven Christians including a Catholic priest and five Protestant pastors for allegedly trying to convert poor Hindus in northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
According to a United Nation report, Gazan families in Palestine are eating animal feed to survive. Ninety-three percent of the population of over 2 million faces “crisis levels of hunger.”
According to a recent report by UNHCR, nearly one-third million Syrians are still suffering from lack of shelter and other basic needs one year after devastating earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey.
Like this British mother, may our 2024 Lenten journey open us to long-term transformation:
My daughter, a very orthodox Catholic, and I have a difference of opinion about what are the best kinds of penances in Lent. She agrees with the traditional idea of temporarily giving up something one enjoys. I feel that this is a wasted opportunity. My daughter argues, as does the Church, that it strengthens one’s will power as well as makes an offering to God. My choice is to give up something that one should not be consuming, getting into the habit of doing without it during Lent, then continuing without it after Lent. Or start doing something that you should be doing and keep on after Lent.
May it be so.
Amen
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