Category: Uncategorized

Harvest Gospel Reflection: “Pray continually and never lose heart”

October 16, 2016

Paul Howes, Head of Directorate at CAFOD, has written this reflection and prayer based on the gospel for Sunday 16 October (Luke 18:1-8). Sign up to receive weekly reflections from CAFOD by email

“Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.”

Jesus tells us a story that is all too true – a defenceless widow is taken advantage of and refused her rights.

The judge and widow in this parable represent opposite ends of the social spectrum. The judge is the epitome of power and the widow the epitome of powerlessness. Through sheer persistence she wears down the unscrupulous judge until he gives her justice.

We see that persistence pays off and that through faith and trust in God, and prayer, all things can become possible.

Help beat hunger in Bolivia with a monthly gift

Of course we prefer prayer to grant what we ask for as soon as we ask it. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis refers to the process of ‘rapidification’, the continued acceleration of changes affecting humanity and the planet coupled with a more intensified pace of life and work.

We have become used to things happening instantaneously. We expect medicine to give instant relief. We expect technology to instantly connect us to family on the other side of the world.

We expect an instant return on our investments. Shouldn’t it be the same with prayer?

But God does not promise instant answers to prayers. Pope Francis invites us to step back and make time for reflection. This is the same with prayer. We need the persistence and the faith of the defenceless widow.

£17 a month, over the next two years, can buy the materials to build a greenhouse

Lord, give me the perseverance and patience to make time for prayer and for you. Help me to understand that you are always there for me and that my prayers, so far as they are for my good, will be heard. Amen.

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World Food Day: Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too

October 14, 2016

For the last 70 years, World Food Day has been celebrated on 16 October to raise awareness of all those who suffer from hunger. With our climate rapidly changing, the way we grow food must also change. This World Food Day, Sally Kitchener shares how Susana in Bolivia is working with one of CAFOD’s partners to learn how to adapt to the changing climate.

“God made us from the earth, from the land. And He also told us to work the land.” 58-year-old Susana Marca Escobar furrows her brow as her eyes scan across her farm.

“But the climate is changing. The heat burns the land and the soil is like fire. Our poor little plants, when they are just seedlings, how can they survive?”

Susana has been working the land her entire life. When she was a teenager, she already knew how to grow the staple foods common in this area of Bolivia – potatoes, beans, quinoa and maize.

It has never been an easy job. The Altiplano where she lives is around 12,000 feet above sea level and not only suffers from a lack of water, but from unpredictable hail storms that often appear without warning. The hailstones can devastate an entire field of potatoes in a matter of minutes, wiping out months of hard work and destroying families’ food supply and their only method of earning money.

Donate to help families in Bolivia when their crops are destroyed

The conditions here have always been tough for those who make a living from the land, but Susana remembers a different time. Continue reading “World Food Day: Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too”

UK Aid Match: Where the money goes

September 29, 2016

CAFOD communications officer, David Mutua in Nairobi writes on an incredible project in northern Kenya that is supporting hard-working families there to make a living. Thanks to your donations during Lent last year, which were matched by the UK government, the people in this small community are turning their lives around.

Just after daylight at Darakabicha location, Marsabit County, northern Kenya, Mahamoud bids good day to his wife. He grabs his watering can and hoe and begins the two kilometre walk to his farm. He makes his way through the lifting fog and braving the chilly morning, resolute that no matter the weather he will make the best of the day. Mahamoud finished high school but with no money to pay for further education, he resorted to the family’s way of life, farming.

Support people like Mahamoud around the world

Continue reading “UK Aid Match: Where the money goes”

Supporting Kitui farmers with a Wessex Way bike ride challenge

August 5, 2016

Paul Bennett is Executive Chairman at CAFOD corporate partner b:ssec. Here he tells us about the challenge he and Wayne Ward, Managing Director of b:ssec, took on in May in support of vulnerable farmers in Kitui, Kenya.

What do you do when you’ve just cycled 187 miles off-track over three days?  Plunge yourself into the icy sea of course! Taking a cooling dip off the Eastbourne coast was an exhilarating end to a tough but amazing 3 days.

There’s still time to sponsor our Wessex Way challenge

All those months of evening training rides after a hard day’s work paid off.  Wayne and I not only completed the Wessex Way challenge we’d set ourselves, but finished in good spirits and in not too much discomfort! And the guilt-free cream tea before the train ride home was the icing on the cake. Continue reading “Supporting Kitui farmers with a Wessex Way bike ride challenge”