A wave is a powerful movement, with millions upon millions of drops of water coming together to surge forward on a clear course. On December 10th, an unstoppable swell will be felt around the world as the hearts of Catholics come together to form a global wave to end hunger.
The wave is now on its course around the world, having started in the Pacific Island of Samoa. From there it will travel through every time zone around the world, where groups of people who believe that hunger is an injustice will pray for the 1 in 8 people around the world who do not have enough food to eat.
This wave of prayer is part of the launch of Caritas Internationalis’ anti-hunger campaign One Human Family, Food for All, which has as its goal to end hunger by 2025. As the Canadian member of Caritas, Development and Peace is participating in this campaign and will make it the central theme of its 2014 Share Lent campaign.
Today, Pope Francis launched the campaign in a video message that challenged our human family to come together as one and ensure that all have access to food.
“We are facing a global scandal of around one billion – one billion people who still suffer from hunger today. We cannot look the other way and pretend this does not exist. The food available in the world is enough to feed everyone,” he implored. You can watch the Holy Father's message in its entirety above.
Here in Canada, groups from Edmundston, New Brunswick to Fernie, British Colombia will be joining in this planetary wave and will be praying in solidarity with the nearly one billion people who struggle daily to fill their plates. We have put together resources to help facilitate your own moment of prayer in your region, whether as part of a group or as an individual wanting to reflect on the injustice of hunger in the world today.
In addition to the video message from Pope Francis, these resources include the campaign prayer, which will be used all around the world and a video reflection led by our animation team. Other resources are available on Caritas' campaign website. You can also track the places around the world participating in the wave of prayer on a Google map.
We hope that these resources will help your hearts surge during this wave and thank you for your participation in the launch of this important campaign to overturn one of the worst injustices in the world today.