Do you, in any way, deprive the poor of what rightfully belongs to them? - Daily Bible Reflections January 21,2015

AN OTHERWISE RICH COUNTRY

Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart... – Mark 3:5

       When the honorable senators of our country grilled one of the accused civilians live on TV about her participation in the pork barrel scam that robbed the Philippine government of billions of pesos, I couldn’t help but feel angry and frustrated. My sentiment is shared by a lot of our countrymen, the working class in particular, whose take-home pays are substantially reduced by the withholding tax imposed on their gross salaries.

       Ours should have been a rich country if government funds were handled rightly.

       Ours should have been a country where there are no beggars on the streets, where even the so-called “poor people” live comfortably in modest houses that they call their own.

       Jesus loved the poor in His time and defended them against abusive forces. He, like many of us, must be grieving, too, at the hardness of hearts of the people who continue to think only of their own interests, not minding the poor people around them whom they should serve in the first place. Tess V. Atienza (theresa.a@shepherdsvoice.com.ph)

Reflection: Do you, in any way, deprive the poor of what rightfully belongs to them?

Lord, I pray that You will touch the hearts of those who are in power — that they may use their power to lift up the poor among us.

St. Agnes, virgin and martyr, pray for us.