Message: Lenten Appeal 2016
Posted date: February 26, 2016
In addition to the poor people whom the CWS and St. Vincent de Paul Society are helping every year, natural disasters like earthquakes and floods in different parts of the world have left many victims in need, especially, to build up their damaged or destroyed homes. Extraordinary appeals of help for these victims have thankfully met with good response; but these appeals are kept to the minimum so as not to overburden the faithful. Hopefully in this Year of Mercy the Lenten appeal will raise very much more funds than in the past to enable the CWS to extend help to natural disasters.
In this Year of Mercy, the call to “be merciful like the heavenly Father” (Lk. 6:36) rings out clearly. Admittedly, the rising cost of living today due to several economic factors has imposed heavier burden on people. Despite this burden, the Lord is appealing to our merciful hearts to share generously even in our poverty. Our positive response will be blessed by God to produce the effect that we read in the miracle described in Mk. 6:34-44 in which, with the five loaves and two fish offered by the apostles, Jesus fed five thousand men and had twelve basketfuls of scraps left over. Just as the apostles themselves stood to gain from this miracle – for sure from the left over scraps, so we too will receive abundant blessings from the Lord ourselves for our generosity in sharing with the have-nots and the needy. More importantly, when the Lord Jesus returns at the end of time to take us to His kingdom, we will qualify to follow Him on the grounds of His assessment: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40).
Happy giving and God bless.
Archbishop John Ha
Read the Lenten Appeal messages in BM and Chinese.