Hope in a Christian sense is always hope for others as well.Pope Benedict XVI, Saved by Hope: Spe Salvi (34), 2007

Class Prayers – He Inoi

SEE THE NEEDLearning to think about poverty and affluence

Rich Man Prayer

Jesus, servant of all,The rich man went awayBecause he could not shareHis possessions with the poor.Help us to know that peopleAre more important than things.May we follow your teachingAnd share with people in need.Amen

From Bless this Day by Patricia Matheson, Ave Maria Press, Notre

Dame, Indiana

The Dream of Jesus

The dream of Jesus challenges us to stand alongside those who are in need and to share what we have with those who have little. God’s dream is for a world of justice where inequalities and prejudice are confronted and the hand of caring is offered freely to all people.You challenge us to stand alongside those who are in need and to share what we have with those who have little. Teach us to be generous, to be caring, to be compassionate.We ask this through Christ our Lord.

From Live the Dream by Rina Wintour, Mountjoy Enterprises,

Brisbane 2003

God of Justice

We pray for those who have little. Grant us a generous heart so that we may respond compassionately and willingly to their suffering. Help us to restore their shattered dreams and lost hopes.Generous God, hear our prayer.

From Live the Dream by Rina Wintour, Mountjoy Enterprises,

Brisbane 2003

Blessed Are We

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the afflicted ones who have been wrongfully treated, God’s first priority is to take care of them.Blessed are we when we acknowledge our need for God, God will take care of us.Blessed are those who mourn over affliction and oppression, the Kingdom is truly theirs.Blessed are we who act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God,God will take care of us.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right, whose actions speak about the Hope of the Reign of God.God’s promise will be fulfilled and God’s Reign will come.Blessed are we when we find out who owns what and return it to them,God will take care of us.

From Just Imagine by Rina Wintour

Official prayer of the Vincentian Family

Lord Jesus, you who willed to become poor, give us eyes and a heart directed toward the poor; help us to recognise you in them in their thirst, their hunger, their loneliness, and their misfortune. Enkindle within our Vincentian Family unity, simplicity, humility, and the fire of love that burned in St Vincent de Paul. Strengthen us, so that, faithful to the practice of these virtues, we may contemplate you and serve you in the person of the poor, and may one day be united with you and them in your Kingdom. Amen

Sourced on 7 May 08 from

http://svdp.org.nz/index.php/static/

Livesimply Prayers

Compassionate and loving God, you created the world for us all to share, a world of beauty and plenty. Create in us a desire to live simply, so that our lives may reflect your generosity.Creator God, you gave us responsibility for the earth, a world of riches and delight. Create in us a desire to live sustainably, so that those who follow after us may enjoy the fruits of your creation.God of peace and justice, you give us the capacity to change, to bring about a world that mirrors your wisdom. Create in us a desire to act in solidarity, so that the pillars of injustice crumble and those now crushed are set free.

© Linda Jones/CAFOD

Walk lightly

Each leaf, each petal, each grain, each person, sings your praises, Creator God. Each creature on the earth, all the mountains and great seas, show your glory, Spirit of love.And yet the hand of greed has patented and plundered your splendour, has taken and not shared your gift, has lived as owner of the earth, not guest.And so the ice is cracked, the rivers dry, the valleys flooded and the snowcaps melt.God our Father, show us how to step gently, how to live simply, how to walk lightly with respect and love for all that you have made. Amen

© Linda Jones/CAFOD

From Taizé

Close to you, Christ Jesus, it becomes possible to know the realities of God, by letting the little that we understand of the realities of the Gospel pass into our daily life. And this little proves to be just enough for us to advance day by day, moment by moment. You never turn us into a people who have made it, but humble people of God who, in all simplicity, are seeking to place their trust in you.

Sourced 7 May 08 from Talk by Gail Ballinger

http://www.livesimply.org.uk/

Jesus, you came to help us see what you could see in the world.Your love for the poor was enormous.During this Social Justice Week, lend us your eyes, your heart and your mind so that we may see, feel and think as you do.May we be always generous in our resolve to help the poor,for they are the ones who are dear to you, Lord.Amen

From 101 Staff Prayers and Reflections by Rachelle Tullio

From the Old Testament

He aha tā Ihowa e rapu nei ki a koe,Heoi anō ko te whakawā tika,Ko te pai ki te tohu tangata,Ko te whakiti me te haere tahiI tōu Atua

This is what Yahweh asks of youOnly this: to act justly, to love tenderlyAnd to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

For Reflection Time

Blessed are the poor . . .

There is no poverty greater than the unwillingness to share.

Blessed are you who are hungry . . .

If I do not speak for myself, who will speak for me? If I speak up only for myself, who then am I? If not now, when?

Blessed are those who weep . . .

For those who believe in God, life does not end, but changes.

Blessed are those who are persecuted . . .

No one is truly free until everyone is free.

From Thoughts for the day, Maryknoll Productions, Beatitudes

Poster Set

I made you

On the street I saw a small girlcold and shivering in a thin dresswith little hope of a decent meal.I became angry and said to God:Why did you permit this?Why don’t you do something about it?

For a while God said nothing.That night God replied quite suddenly:I did do something about it. I made you.

From The Poverty Project by Linda Hanson

This Justice Blessing is based on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Students may want to compose their own.

Justice Blessing

Blessed are we when we’re poor in spirit,For then we shall hear the voice of the voiceless.

Blessed are we when we’re gentle,For then we shall be slow to marginalise or categorise.

Blessed are we when we mourn, For our compassion is touching real pain.

Blessed are we when we hunger and thirst for justice,For, even if we are alienated, we shall not, in turn, alienate others.

Blessed are we when we’re merciful,For it proves we believe in a God who is blind to skin colour, religious belief, cultural heritage, economic power, physical or emotional disability.

Blessed are we when we strive to be pure in heart,For then we truly mirror a compassionate God.

Blessed are we when we’re peace-makers,For then we truly manifest a belief in a God whose justice accepts all people.

Blessed are we when we’re persecuted in the cause of justice,For we believe we will ultimately be judged by our life’s actionsAnd held accountable, not so much for the focus of our love,But for the degree of it.

From 101 Staff Prayers and Reflections

Beatitude Prayer

It is through what we are and do that others will come to know you.We are here to bring peace to a broken people,And healing to those in need.We are here to witness to the world that we live in,And respond to a desperate society seeking truth,Equality, and freedom.

Parent of the poor and oppressed, we ask for your help.You have shown us how to be faithful in the midst of persecution.You have taught us to stand firm in the painThat we experience in our broken world.Teach us to become sight for the blind,Ears for those who are deaf to hear your Word,And hands for those who refuse to workAt building the Reign of God.We pray all this in your name for your honour and glory.Amen

A bounty to share

E Te Atua,Whāea o te rawakore:With a mother’s love, o God,you embrace the poor.Take from our heartswhat keeps us from sharingthe abundance we havefrom the bounty you give.

Seat us at the table of plentyyou have set for the poor.Satisfy our hungerwith food that endures.May we grow to becomelike the gift we receive,willing to give of ourselvesthat others may live.

Open our eyes to seethat no one can prosperwhile some go in need;but that all can rejoicewhen each need is met.For the fruits of the Earthare for all to share,in mercy’s name. Amen.

Pou Atawhai Centre for Mission, Mercy Ministries Ltd

“Cold – got hardly no clothes, looking for some. Wonder if there’s any money in here. No money, no clothes! Desperate.”

Anonymous, Paeroa

Source: Office of the Children’s Commissioner – from the project This is how I see it: Children and young people’s views and experiences of poverty.