Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the Year

The first reading and the gospel provide us a glimpse of the reality of the people at the time living in world of chaos - like our own - with violence, destruction, and strife due to social abuses by the wealthy and corrupt leadership. The first reading speaks of violence, destruction, discord, strife, and misery. SReimilar in ways to our reality, it not a world where we love our neighbour or fullness of life as Jesus promised occurs. The yearning for an end to us and we look to God to intervene. Habakkuk lamented that God didn’t heed their cry and intervene.

Twenty-Sixth Sunday of the Year

Luke is relentless and provocative in dealing with wealth and our proper relationship with wealth. Prosperity or abundance theology, that continues today, points to material wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and a negative judgment on poverty as was the case in biblical times. There is also the view that suffering in the present will later be compensated. Each view gives all power to God who decides the material wellbeing of people and thus exonerates us from responsibility for others. Jesus makes clear that God clearly sides with the poor, unimportant, broken and of no economic or social importance.

The Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education (Pacific Calling Partnership initiative) supported a tour to Sydney and Canberra of two prominent Pacific Elders- His Excellencies Anote Tong, former President of Kiribati, and Tommy Remengesau Jr., former President of Palau. A public webinar was jointly hosted by The Australia Institute and Edmund Rice Centre.