Like a
mother feeding and looking after her own children, we felt so devoted and
protective towards you, and had come to love you so much, that we were eager to
hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives as well. Let me
remind you, brothers, how hard we used to work, slaving night and day so as not
to be a burden on any one of you while we were proclaiming God’s Good News to
you.
1 Thessalonians 2:7 - 9
There is no doubt that
motherhood before the invention of electric washing machines, tumble driers
(and drip dry clothes), vacuum cleaners and refrigerators was pretty tough. No
family today can survive without these essentials. There is a no-nonsense
motherhood which dictates that stuff just has to be done, like ‘that’s my job’.
At the other end is the sentimental, sweet apple-pie Mom of fiction with her
apron, fresh make up and tea on the table. The reality is, of course, somewhere
in the middle.
In this day and age, women choose to be mothers. It was once considered
a sacred duty. Now it is a sacred choice.
There are many reasons, then, why being a mother today is even more
critical – and it is more than the physical nurturing and healing hugs that are
so precious. Mothers are the centre
of order in daily life, predictable, there when you need them, generous with
time and energy, supportive and supporting. In addition they have to cook well,
clean well, maintain gardens, budget, clothe, organise social events, deliver,
taxi, bathe, iron, find missing socks, shoes, jumpers, library books, do
homework, sign notes, remember PE and canteen days, be Mother’s help, check the
diary, take tissues out of pockets before washing, remember birthdays,
anniversaries, tooth fairies, to sell the P&F chocolates and get the money
in to school, make casseroles for sick friends, visit grandparents and old
friends, download music onto an iPhone, fix the DVD, get milk and red wine out of
the carpet, have enough money left over to take the children to the movies
occasionally, remember who took out the garbage last.
If I asked Mums ‘Would you
still choose motherhood knowing the demands that will be placed on you?’ I suspect
they would all say without hesitation, ‘Yes’. It is impossible to place a value
on motherhood because it cannot be bought, sold or exchanged – it is a gift
both chosen and offered.
Paul captures motherhood and leadership in three verses. In a
refreshing feminine perspective, this gives, I suggest, an insight into Paul's
own upbringing. Any mother would relate to the imagery of a mother's love for
her children and the plain, hard work it takes to nurture a child to
independence and adulthood. Paul appears well aware of the demands of
motherhood but he also uses motherhood as analogous to Christian leadership. In
order for the Gospel to be proclaimed the devoted and protective leader must
nurture and nourish the followers of Jesus by giving their whole lives, slaving
night and day but not being a burden to them. Paul offers himself, Silas and
Timothy as examples of this kind of selfless leadership.
Paul's letters to the Thessalonians
provides a foretaste of the Gospel image, especially in Luke, of Mary, mother
of Jesus as a model of both motherhood and leadership, and indeed the role of the Church in the divine
mission.
We have much to learn as teachers and
leaders from our own mothers and the mothers of our students.
Peter Douglas
Pope Francis: War and climate change cause hunger;
stop treating it as an incurable illness
by Gerard O'Connell
This article first appeared in America on 16 October 2017.
“It’s
clear that wars and climate change cause hunger; let us stop presenting it as
an incurable illness,” Pope Francis said in a powerful keynote address at the
United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization on Oct.16. He called on
governments worldwide to take collaborative action to overcome the three
interconnected plagues of conflict, climate change and hunger.
“In this situation, we can and we must
change direction,” the pope said. “What is at stake is the credibility of the
whole international system.” His audience included government ministers from
the Group of Seven countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United
Kingdom and the United States, as well as the ambassadors of F.A.O. member
states and the organization’s top officials.
Francis spelled out several concrete steps
that need to be taken by governments and the international community at a
moment in which hunger is on the rise for the first time in decades, with 815
million people suffering from chronic undernourishment and millions of migrants
worldwide, as the F.A.O.’s director general, José Graziano da Silva, told the
pope in his welcome address.
“The relation between hunger and migrations
can only be faced if we go to the roots of the problem,” Pope Francis said,
speaking in Spanish. He noted that studies conducted by the United Nations and
civil society groups concur that to effectively address the problems of hunger
and migration “two main obstacles have to be overcome: conflicts and climate
change.”
He said international law has the means
“for preventing and rapidly resolving” conflict and avoiding “famine and
destruction of the social fabric.” What is needed is “goodwill and dialogue to
stop the conflicts and a total commitment in favor of a gradual and systematic
disarming [of the combatants], as envisaged by the Charter of the United
Nations, as well as remedying the terrible plague of the arms trade.”
On climate change, Pope Francis said, “We
see the consequences every day,” but “thanks to science, we know how to face
these problems.” He recalled that “the international community has already
drawn up the necessary juridical instruments such as, for example, the Paris
accords, from which, unfortunately, some are distancing themselves.”
This remark was widely interpreted as a
reference to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on
climate change, which was adopted on Dec. 12, 2015, and signed by 195 parties.
It has already been ratified by 168 states.
“It is necessary to strive for a concrete
and practical consensus if one wishes to avoid the most tragic consequences
that continue to fall on the poorest and most defenseless persons,” the pope
said. He emphasized the need for a change in lifestyle, in the use of
resources, in the systems of production and in consumption, especially
regarding food, so much of which is lost or thrown away. He presented all the
above as “the presuppositions” for any serious discussion about food security
linked to the phenomenon of migration.
Francis first spoke at the F.A.O.
headquarters in 2014, and he was invited again this year to give the keynote
address on World Food Day, which has as its theme: “Change the future of
migration. Invest in food security and rural development.” Every year World
Food Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the establishment of the F.A.O. by
the United Nations on Oct. 16, 1945, to cope with the problems of hunger, the
displacement of peoples and poverty in the wake of World War II.
Pope Francis welcomed as “a sign of hope”
the F.A.O. forecast that there will be an increase in “the global production of
cereals, which will ensure greater world food reserves.” But he denounced the
fact that “food resources are frequently exposed to speculation” and seen in
terms of the economic benefit they bring to the big producers, rather than of
the needs of the people. He warned that by acting in this way “conflicts and
waste are favored, and the number of the poor who have to leave their homelands
is increased.”
The pope noted that when faced with an
increased demand for food in the world, some argue that it is sufficient “to
reduce the number of mouths to feed.” He rejected this as “a false solution,”
if one takes into account the amount of discarded food and the models of
consumption that waste food resources. “It’s easy to reduce, on the other hand;
to share implies a conversion, and that is demanding.”
Then looking at his audience, the pope
said: “I ask myself, and you, too, this question: Is it exaggerated to
introduce into the language of international cooperation the category of love,
linked to that of gratuity, equality of treatment, solidarity, the culture of
gift, brotherhood, mercy?” He explained that these words express “the practical
content” of the word “humanitarian.”
Likewise, he said, “to love the brothers
and sisters, taking the initiative, without hoping for a return” is a principle
that is found in all religions and cultures and has been converted into “the
principle of humanity,” which is part of the language of international
relations.
In practical terms, Francis said, to love
means “to contribute so that each country increases production and reaches
self-sufficiency in food.” To love means “to think new models of development
and consumption and to adopt policies that do not aggravate the situation of
populations that are less advanced or their external dependence.” To love means
“not to continue to divide the human family between those who have a surplus
and those who lack the bare necessities.”
Then, in what was seen as a reference to
the nuclear accord with Iran, Pope Francis recalled that diplomacy has shown in
recent times that “it is possible to halt the recourse to arms of mass
destruction.” He said, “everyone is conscious of their capacity for
destruction,” but, he asked, “are we equally conscious of the effects of
poverty and of exclusion? How are we to stop people who are willing to risk
everything, entire generations who can disappear because they lack their daily
bread or are the victims of violence and climate change?”
Next, in a message that appeared directed
to governments, Pope Francis said: “They cannot be stopped by physical,
economic, legislative or ideological barriers. Only the coherent application of
the principle of humanity can do that.”
Francis noted that today public aid for
development is being reduced and international agencies are being limited in
their activities, while governments pursue bilateral agreements “that
subordinate cooperation to the respect of particular agendas and alliances” or
to a “tranquility of the moment.”
He made clear, however, that “the
management of human mobility requires coordinated and systematic
intergovernmental activity, conducted according to the existing international
norms and permeated by love and intelligence.” The aim of this is to bring
about “the encounter of peoples” and “to generate dialogue and union, not
exclusion and vulnerability.”
He told his audience that
“the burden of misery caused by the often tragic movement of migrants can be
removed through a [program of] prevention, made of projects of development that
create jobs and the capacity to respond to climate and environmental changes.”
He reminded them that “prevention costs much less than the effects caused by
the degradation of lands and the pollution of waters, effects that hit the
nerve centers of the planet where poverty is the only law, diseases are on the
increase and the hope of life is diminished.”
