(Editor’s Note: Our Liturgical Issue would not be complete without considering how Catholic teaching on social justice ties in with our liturgical celebrations.)

Imagine sitting at a dinner table and sensing you are unwelcome. Such an experience would leave anyone with an empty feeling. Now magnify that feeling many times. Imagine the emptiness you would experience if your children were not welcome at the table, because there was no food for them.

In an attempt to feed your children, imagine starting each day at 4:00 in the morning working on your small farm to cultivate whatever vegetables possible, providing bad weather and armies do not destroy them first.

Then imagine preparing noon and evening meals; there is no time for breakfast. Just to grind the grain needed takes three hours. Afterwards, you walk 14 miles to the nearest water source to fill your jug—hoping it is not contaminated. After returning home you begin a search for scarce firewood. At 11:00 pm your day ends. Imagine…

This is not a fabricated story. It is the daily struggle of Bernadette Ouerdrago of Burkina Faso. Her story represents countless people in the developing world.

In that world, over one billion people struggle to survive on less than one dollar a day. Over 860 million of them, including 300 million children, are hungry. And when drought, famine, or war strikes, it often becomes impossible for parents to help their children survive. Imagine that emptiness!

In our own nation thirty-seven million people live below the official poverty line. And one out of every six American children is poor.

But how can this be happening when there are enough resources to meet everyone's basic needs? In a world of plenty, why are so many people not welcome at the table?

The United States Catholic bishops in their document titled A Place at the Table: A Catholic Recommitment to Overcome Poverty and to Respect the Dignity of All God's Children, begin with a quote from Pope John Paul II, "How can it be that today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without a roof over their heads? Christians must learn to make their act of faith in Christ by discerning his voice in the cry for help that arises from this world of poverty."

The bishops write, "With our Church under challenge, our nation confronted by terror, and our world haunted by conflict, why focus on issues of poverty and human dignity at this time?" They prophetically answer, "Our faith calls us to it … Our nation needs it … Our world requires it … Our salvation demands it … Our actions can make a difference."

Here are a few ways you can help:

• Download the bishops' document A Place at the Table. A prayerful reading of it will inspire action. Share it with others.
• Find a way to help the poor in your community.
• Advocate for the world's poor by writing your United States congressional representatives. Urge them to take a leadership role in advocating for large increases to the federal budget in emergency and development aid to the world’s poorest nations.
• Millions of Africans are in danger of starvation. Kindly send a donation on their behalf to Catholic Relief Services.

"I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me" (Matthew 25:40).

This article was reprinted with permission from Catholic News Service. Many of Tony’s articles are available on the NACYML website. If you would like to read his columns on a regular basis, ask your parish/diocesan publications to include them in the bulletin/newspaper.