standup.comboniyouth.org.uk

"Yahweh is the Lord of life and death; 
He brings down to the grave and raises up. 
Yahweh makes poor and makes rich, 
He brings low and exalts. 
He lifts up the lowly from the dust 
and raises the poor from the ash heap".
1Sam. 2,6-8

Hanna is a biblical figure inserted as a "sign of liberation" during the slavery of Babylon. Her sterility, marginalization and impotence represents that of the people. Her emancipation is obtained through faith and the offering of her child and of her life to God. This holy woman traces a suitable path towards achieving a mature and true liberation. Her brave determination marks out the courage of individuals who do go against the tide of just accepting to be passive in the face of pain and suffering.

Participating in the 26st annual conference of the J&P diocesan commissions for England and Wales I found inspiration in the story of another woman, a community leader who was in charge of the sub-kitchen programme for the shanty town of El Salvador. "Maria Helena Moiano, of African origins stood up when 'Sendero Luminoso' wanted to hold a strike, an armed national strike, which meant that they would be violent, not just blocking roads but would kill people. Their worst tactic was throwing a petrol bomb into cars and buses so it would just burn the people inside. They were totally ruthless. Maria Helena led a march with the women to say: "No! we have our own dignity we have a right to the way we run our own town and we are not allowing you to put us in a situation of fear so that we become inactive and allow you to have your way". Two days after that march which she had organised to protest against a violent answer to Peru's problems she was killed, shot. They attached dynamite to her body so that it would blow it to pieces. That was a very important moment in the history of modern Peru' because it was the moment that for many people 'Sendero Luminoso' was totally demythologised; it revealed who they really were, if anybody had still any doubt at that stage, anyway! People begun to react, and they said: "Well! if she did that, a very poor woman, with a husband and two children, gave her life, why can't we also stand up for ourselves? That was a Kingdom moment". You can find, in one of the tapes I have sent you, this and other testimonies by fr. Ed O'Connol, a Columbian missionary priest, working in Lima, giving an account of the violence which took place in Peru' from the 80s until the year 2000. Since 2001 a Peace and Reconciliation committee has been working to heal the wounds of a nation.

At this 26th annual conference some three hundred delegates with their family enlivened the event, being organised by Arundel and Brighton diocese. The theme chosen, 'Bringing forth the Kingdom - love and justice in a broken world ', was meant to express the solidarity of Christians with one another, their yearning for justice for the poorest of the poor, their faith in the coming of the Kingdom of God, and their determination to make that Kingdom of truth, justice, love and peace a reality in today's world. The other main speaker was Fr. John Fuellenbach a Divine Word priest, lecturer at the Gregorian University in Rome and author of three books for meditation: 'The Kingdom of God : Jesus Central Message '; 'Proclaiming His Kingdom ' ; 'Throw Fire' . His idea of justice is: that anger has to turn into mercy; beside justice and peace joy should also be present; and in no place in the Bible God's name is success, but only love and compassion. The workshops ranged from the peace movements to ecology, from ethnical and cultural differences to the mass media, from global trade to poverty and debt, from asylum seekers to alternative to imprisonment, from HIV to violence against women. At the one I attended I learned that the golden principle of campaigning is to 'kiss': to Keep It Simple Stupid: whatever message you want to convey to others use common words and do not multiply them. Is this a tip we could make use of, while giving our Mission Appeals?