A WORD FROM AFRICA No. 18
A few months ago, the BBC was advertising digital TV, ‘See the African Continent in a new light’. Whatever that new light was, one hopes that it was the light of truth. It is right that the world should know about cruelties and corruption and lust for power which plague ordinary lives on this continent, and the conspiracies of foreign powers and corporations which prolong for the people the misery of conflict.
But the light which all of us must bring to bear on Africa is the light of God’s compassion for the millions who are suffering from poverty, starvation, homelessness and above all from the effects of the pandemic AIDS.
The Holy Father’s prayer for December, that children be respected, understood and loved, is followed in the next three months by prayers for peace, for the sick - especially the poor - and that governments should have a special care for the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed. His prayer is for the world but, as he himself has said recently, it is Africa that calls most poignantly for our concern and our help, especially for its women and children who bear the brunt of constant warfare, the blight of illness decimating whole villages, and governments who lack genuine concern for their people
So in this Christmas season, when we celebrate our Saviour’s placing himself at the world’s mercy as a child, the children of Africa should be constantly in our thoughts and prayers, that hearts may be moved to rescue them from their plight and restore them to the true joys of happy, carefree childhood.
James Fitzsimons