May her Motto be our Inspiration
October 17, 2012
Today is the UN World Day of Poverty . Yesterday was World Food Day. This week is Anti-poverty week…
Three dates intended to makes us more conscious of the poor and needy amongst us, and to motivate us to take action.
The statistics can be overwhelming: the number of the hungry, according to the World Food programme, totals 870 million. That’s a number reported to be greater than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.
One in eight Australians, according to the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) this week, lives below the poverty line. Most at risk in Australia are the unemployed, single people over 65, lone-parent families and households reliant on social security.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, the recently released report from the Child Commissioner tells us that 25 percent of children live in households where incomes fall below recognised poverty thresholds…
Today is also the second anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s canonisation. “Never see a need without doing something about it” (1871), was Mary’s motto and her invitation to us.
Today, as we are drawn to think of Mary and to pray with her, may her motto also be our inspiration.
