By Couvreur Jan, cicm
Traditionally, with the celebration of Flores de Mayo, the month of May is consecrated to Mary. Throughout the ages, Mary has been invoked under hundreds of names as a refuge and as a model. Thousands of statues and images present her as a sweet, lovely Lady, far detached from the struggles and realities of daily life.
However, already in our daily prayer of the “Magnificat” we get a glimpse of her as the courageous, determined, strong woman at all times aware of and committed to the tremendous task put on her frail shoulders by her Creator. Through her “Yes”, the Mighty One brought justice to the world: He has shown the power of His arm: the proud are scattered with their plans, the mighty put down from their thrones, the lowly are uplifted, the hungry filled with good things and the rich sent away empty. Her unconditional “Yes” brought her a lot of suffering and unexpected turn of events in her life, but she remained at all times a model of justice and nonviolence.
Since the foundation of our Congregation, we, as missionaries, have been putting ourselves under her maternal protection.
We are celebrating 150 years of CICM. Our founder and his companions left their country of origin and sacrificed their life to bring human dignity to abandoned Children in China. Over the years, so many confreres suffered hunger, sacrificed their health and even their life for the cause of the poor and voiceless, to stand up for their rights as human beings. Inspired by the “Yes” of Mary, they also lived as models of justice.
What about us now? Do we still believe we are an essential part of the big crossword puzzle that is JPIC, where each one of us, even how small we are, become an integral part of the solution?
The Acts of the Chapter state clearly that: “the commitment for justice and peace, for the recognition of the dignity of human life and persons, and likewise the care for creation are CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENTS of our mission.” This conviction must mark all our commitments, as individual confreres as well as CICM communities.
Daily we are confronted with the tremendous multitude of abuses: Abuse of women, OFW’s, child labour, 40% drop out of children from school, human trafficking, abortion, land grabbing of IP’s and exploiting their services, contractualization, overworked and underpaid church workers, illegal logging, illegal mining, pollution (air, land, water). How can we face this? We feel powerless, overwhelmed, even scared of reactions by the abusers.
All confreres, according to their possibilities, are trying to respond to local JPIC issues, but as we never got a formal training for this, the results are sometimes discouraging. Therefore, the PG approved to provide each CICM parish community with the training manual from the Lumko series: :” Building Parish Justice and Peace Groups.” Hopefully this booklet will be able to help us organize and work out a more Consistent program in coordination with our parish lay workers. If need be, we can ask Bukal to organize a training session on how to proceed with it.
Father Joseph Wresinski of the Fourth World Movement states: “A Christian’s and the Church’s first duty is not so much to defend human rights, much less to defend them in the name of the law. Our duty is to defend the human being by restoring their rights to those whose very humanity has been called in question.”
As a Congregation, we have to stand up in solidarity with the downtrodden. This has to be an integral part of our corporate commitment with issues involving the neediest, the voiceless, those trampled upon. As RP-CICM we should fully support and endorse the initiatives taken by confreres to foster the restoration of “the endangered humanity” of so many abused people.
Maybe one strong sign of this solidarity could be to review our budget downwards, not only because of the financial situation of the RP Province, but especially because we want to share the lot of so many families with many children who have to make do with very low salaries and cannot go to collect a subsidy from anyagency. We should re-examine our projects and programs and prioritize them according to the needs, the urgency and the participation of the local communities.
Through our JPIC involvement, we realize that we have to look first into ourselves and ask ourselves: 136
Through our JPIC involvement, we realize that we have to look first into ourselves and ask ourselves:
-How can I bring more justice in my own life and in CICM?
-How can I live more in peace with myself and with CICM?
The answer to those questions will determine the effect of our witnessing, of our prophetic mission. Our own simple lifestyle, in solidarity with the poor, speaks more than 1000 beautiful slogans.
May Mary, the model of Justice, inspire each one of us to stick out our neck, whatever the cost, to become witnesses of truth and justice by honestly giving ourselves totally to the mission the Lord entrusted to us.
May the celebration of our 150 years CICM become a starting point for renewed commitment to a simple lifestyle as our pioneers did, full of hope and trust in the continued presence of the Lord.
