How Do You Treat Jesus?

By Fin Sheridan

30 years ago today in at the Human Rights Plaza in Paris, Father Joseph Wresinski, a Catholic priest, unveiled a commemorative stone. On it were written these words: “Wherever men and women are condemned to live in poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty.”

Father Wresinski knew a little bit about poverty. ‘He was born immigrant parents in a poor neighborhood of Angers, France. He grew up in a family which suffered from deep poverty and social exclusion. In 1946, he was ordained as a priest and served in industrial and rural parishes where, right from the beginning, he related to the most deprived families.

In 1956, Father Joseph Wresinski was assigned by his bishop to be chaplain to 250 families placed in a emergency housing camp in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. The families lived in huts built in a muddy field. A year later, Father Joseph Wresinkski and the families of the camp founded an association that would later to become the ATD (All Together in Dignity) Fourth World Movement. They replaced soup kitchens and the distribution of old clothes with a library, a kindergarten and a chapel. Joined by the first few Volunteers, he soon created a research institute on extreme poverty, bringing together researchers from different countries and disciplines.

Fast forward to 1992 and the United Nations made today, as recognition of Father Wresinski’s work, ‘The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty’. Across the world, people will gather to refocus and recommit to ending poverty, many of them motivated by faith. As Christians, we should always be looking for opportunities to serve and demonstrate the love of Jesus to those who suffering.

You can partner with CBN Humanitarian or Orphan’s Promise today – and when you do, your gift can go straight towards helping the most needy.

Why? Simply, because Jesus said so. In Matthew 25, whilst detailing what will happen at the end of the world (so, you know, a fairly significant event…), Jesus describes this scene: Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”

We cannot miss the weight of this. Jesus equals how we treat our fellow human beings, particularly those in need, to how we treat him. It’s a sobering thought! So what should you do? Chances are, you still have to go to work, do the school run, make dinner – do all the things that you normally do. Well, good news! You can partner with CBN Humanitarian or Orphan’s Promise today – and when you do, your gift can go straight towards helping the most needy.

Every day, lives are saved, because of food distributed by CBN Humanitarian. Children who live in extreme poverty are fed through Orphan’s Promise. CBN drill hundreds of water wells for communities that don’t have access to clean water – a vital piece in the mission to escape poverty.

You can partner today, simply by clicking the button below! Thank you for your generosity.

Prince of Peace

Everlasting Father

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