Shining light in the darkness of our world

In the Gospels of recent weeks Jesus shines light on the powers of his day and they respond by rejecting Him. Last Sunday Jesus challenged the money changers – a corrupt part of the financial system of his day. In recent weeks we also heard of Jesus healing the lepers.  The fact that God’s healing touch was for all not just those favoured by the religious class,  nearly led to his death on the cliff edge near Nazareth. These healings bring to mind Fr Damien who gave his life in service of those suffering in the leper colony on the peninsular of Molokai. What have we seen recently in the UK?

See.  More than 850 health and social care workers are reported (Scotsman, Jan 27th) to have died after knowingly risking their lives by serving those ill with COVID, while lacking adequate PPE.  Their sacrifice, and that of their families, brings to mind Fr Damien. Our country has rewarded the NHS workers who have survived by proposing a real-terms pay cut. We’re building Trident 2 at the cost of many billions, to have a capability of mass murder. The government is proposing to reduce costs of internal flights in the UK with consequent climate damage and appalling symbolism as COP is planned.  Such choices are said to be constrained by the economy. The missing link is that the economic system reflects the values of those with power to shape it.  Through votes, voices and daily choices that does include us.

Reflect. In the last 100 years so much has progressed (for us in the UK at least…): the welfare state, communications technologies, water and sewage infrastructure... what else springs to mind? Yet so much more remains to be done.... what?! Are people we know having to choose between warmth and food? We are asked by Pope Francis and by today’s Gospel to look in the light of Christ at our lives, at our communities and at our economic, religious and political structures. Do these structures prioritise those in poverty, empowering their own just transition from poverty? Do some religious authorities seek only to turn the church lights back on and not to shine the light of Christ into dark places of the world?

Act. We might be able to seek a healthier local economy by buying occasional items from a corner shop rather than a  big supermarket - money spent in a local shop is much more likely to be re-spent in the area. We might read Pope Francis. In Evangelii Gaudium, (The Joy of the Gospel) he calls us to openness to a new relationship with Christ.  In that light in Laudato Si’ he explores our relationship with the Earth and with the poor. In Fratelli (e Sorelle) Tutti he calls us to worldwide sisterhood and brotherhood.  In each he writes about how the economic system needs reform. The Scottish Laity Network recently hosted Katherine Trebeck who spoke superbly on new thinking in economics.  See also the New Economics foundation and the recent Food Ethics council report.

Mike Mineter