Monthly Prayer: October 2024

This month's reflection has been written by Ben Wilson, SCIAF's Director of Public Engagement

Looking around the world today, it can be hard to remain hopeful. The war in the Holy Land continues to drive unfathomable levels of pain and anguish each and every day, as does war in Ukraine, DR Congo, Sudan and so many other places across the world. Whilst the global media attention may fade, and our belief in a peaceful resolution wanes, the suffering of the people is as profound as it was on the first day of the violence.

Even when not rocked by oppression or caught up in the horrors of war, many more hundreds of millions of people are stuck in a cycle of deep and painful material poverty across the world. People are living day by day, meal by meal, going to bed hungry, often cold and often sick, without medicine, on hard clay floors.

In a world where 30% of food produced is wasted, more than 700 million people go hungry each day. The world has for many years produced much more than is needed to feed everyone, and set a target to eradicate world hunger by 2030. Unfortunately, efforts towards this target by global governments have been lacklustre, and hope of achieving food justice feels very far away.

The extent of conflict, poverty and discrimination across the world at times can feel like an inevitable consequence of a global economy based on greed, excess and selfishness. A global system that has woven a rich tapestry of pain and suffering that feels at times to have covered over the world.

Yet in the face of hopelessness, Thomas Aquinas reminds us that despair itself can be a sin, and something we must reject. We must trust that from the darkness, if we look carefully and patiently, we will see Christ’s light shine through the cracks of the tapestry and illuminate the path forward.

The people living in apartheid in South Africa just half a century ago no doubt felt hopeless in their struggles for justice, just like civil rights activists in the US did, or victims of slavery in the early 19^th century. But just as the iron curtain in Europe might at times have felt insoluble, or British rule in India permanent, ultimately the world changed dramatically to restore hope to the hopeless.

We are called to seek those glimmers of light that keep hope alive, and to strive to build the Kingdom of God on Earth, even if it will not be achieved in our lifetimes. By raising our voices against poverty, exploitation and injustice, we help keep hope alive that a better world is possible, and that a better life for all can be achieved.