The idea of writing this paper was inspired by the wonderful work done by the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) in improving people's conditions of life by "promoting study and action on issues linking Christian faith and social justice in Zambia and Malawi."  As we can read through, the JCTR mission statement, the approach of the JCTR is based on the church's social teaching that includes a faith reflection rooted in the daily-life experience of people, especially the poor.

I was personally attracted by the Basic Needs Basket, an activity of the Social Conditions Research Project of the JCTR that "shows the socioeconomic difficulties households face in Zambia through highlighting the cost of basic needs in relationship to people's income."  I was not only attracted but also impressed by the way the survey is conducted.  Different categories of people are targeted.

The ordinary people are the first target.  This way of proceeding put an end to a series of questions I had within me.    In fact,  I   was   afraid    that    things are said from the office without knowing very well what is going on in relation to what people are really experiencing.  The urge within me was so strong that I decided one day to break my silence, recalling in my mind this powerful statement of Martin Luther King: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."  I did not want my life to end because the issue of people's conditions of life was a matter of great importance. The answer to my concern was simple: "Come and see."  Then I realized that this was the reply of Jesus to John the Baptist's disciples who wanted to know where He was living (John 1: 39). So, I followed.  I went, I saw, and I believed.

DIMENSIONS OF THE BASKET

According to Muweme of the JCTR, "The Basket is an effort aimed at giving a picture of the struggle confronting households in meeting their daily essential needs.  It shows the relationship between household incomes and requirements for basic human survival.  It highlights the cost of food and essential non-food items."  I fully agree with Muweme when he adds that "the Basket is not compiled to be merely a statistical exercise, but a basis for responding to the needs of the Zambian people, particularly the poor whose composition is by and large women."

It follows that in addition to its statistical aspect or dimension, the Basket has many other dimensions: moral, political, social, etc.  The Basket can be compared to an iceberg.  It is the manifestation of a deeper multiform crisis: political crisis due to a misunderstanding of the proper intention of politics, which is supposed to be "a service to the growth and development of the social community "(Magesa, "Has the Church a Role in Politics, p.71); economic crisis due to an irresponsible way of asking for loans or to the difficult of making a clear distinction between public resources and personal interests; moral crisis resulting in the denial of the dignity of the human person.

After reading the different analysis that accompany the monthly Basket, from January 2003 to May 2004, I have come to the observation that we are living in a world where the majority of people are denied the right to live in a decent way, where food has become if not a dream, at least a luxury for thousands of people.

THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIME

While others do not have access to adequate food, some are throwing things, including food, away.  The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing in a scandalous way.  Egoism and self-interest have kicked compassion for the needy out of the policy of many governments.  As a result, many families are unable to meet the basic needs to lead a decent human life.  Can we affirm today that “the future of the world and the church passes through the family” (Ecclesia in Africa, #80) if we know that the unjust socio-economic and political structures of our countries have condemned some of our people to live a miserable life without any hope of tomorrow?

Can the family still be considered as the “heart of our nation and of our church” if some of the families are split because of the lack of basic means to sustain the two ends of the month, if a 15 year-old-lady must engage in prostitution -- exposing herself to the HIV/AIDS pandemic -- in order to feed the rest of the family?

All these questions reveal the nature of the society in which we are living.  A society built up on the logic of everything for myself. This logic has many implications.  One of them is the exploitation and denial of human dignity.  What a shame to “use people as things for gain and to put no more value on them than what they are worth in muscle and energy.”(Rerum Novarum, #31).

THE GOSPEL

Give them something to eat yourselves is both an invitation and a challenge to look seriously at the conditions of life of our people and to work for the improvement of those conditions.  By addressing this word to his disciples, and today to each one of us, Jesus is putting us in front of our responsibility towards our sisters and brothers.  He is awakening our conscience and pushing us to stop looking at our society from above, but to be brothers and sisters among brothers and sisters.

It is important to look at the four Gospels where the statement comes from in order to understand the meaning and to grasp the implications of such a statement.  The first text is Matthew 14:16, the second is Mark 6: 31-44, the third is Luke 9: 10-17, and the fourth is John 6: 1-13.  A close look at the four texts reveals that the “Give them something to eat yourselves” is common to the four Gospels.

But the small boy with five loaves and two fish appears only in the Gospel of John.  The presence of this small boy has two meanings.  The first one is sensitivity in relation to the situation of the needy, and the second one is an invitation to an active participation of everyone in the running of society.

SENSITIVITY

If we are still human beings, that is to say, people who have a conscience and who are able to use our rationality, we cannot be indifferent to what is going on around us.  In one way or another, we are concerned by the situation in which our people are living.  As pointed out by an important document of the Second Vatican Council, The Church in the Modern World, "The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the women and men of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.  Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts." (Gaudium et Spes, #1)

The small boy in the Gospel of John shows the example of that sensitivity. “Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish.”  The small boy was sensitive to his environment.  The needs of his fellow human beings could shake his conscience and his heart, and lead him to share with others what he had.  Thanks to his generosity and the capacity to overcome his selfishness, other people could eat.

We can say today, using the social teaching of the church, that the small boy understood that “while the few enjoy great freedom of choice, the many are deprived of almost all possibilities of acting on their own initiative and responsibility.” (Gaudium et Spes, #63).  In fact, the young boy had great freedom of choice.  He could either have gone to the nearest town as the apostles suggested or he could have stayed and ate what he had.  This was not the case for the rest of the congregation that was listening to Jesus.

If the plan suggested by the apostles had been adopted, the other people would have gone to the nearest town.  This was the only possibility they had.  Fortunately, the trip that was going to take place despite people’s fatigue and hunger was cancelled by the generosity and the openness of the heart of a small boy who has understood that “there are people who each day cannot meet the basic needs to lead a decent human life.”  (Family, #5).  Are we aware of this reality?

If yes, then what is our attitude?  Let us just open our eyes and look around us.  We will see that 15-year-old girl hardly worn, standing in the corner of the street, and whose short skirt is challenging the eyes of potential customers, or that dirty young boy on the street looking for something to eat after two or three days of fasting, a fast which has nothing to do with religious or spiritual purposes but rather imposed by the socioeconomic situation of our countries.

Anytime I reflect on the situation in which our people are living, this song I used to sing when I was a little boy always comes to my mind: you who are seeking Jesus, listen carefully.  Close these eyes and open your internal eyes you will see Jesus.  Those eyes are the eyes of faith and of compassion, open them you will see your brother or sister who is hungry, uneducated, naked, hopeless, etc.

Yes! There are situations that we can better understand only by looking at them with the eyes of our heart.  Each one of us has the moral obligation to look at the society not only with his or her physical eyes or intelligence, but also with his or her conscience.  This is the only way to become sensitive to the needs of our brothers  and sisters, because “today the people in hunger are making a dramatic appeal to the people blessed with abundance” (Populorum Progressio, #6).

The Bible in its wisdom tells us that men and women were created in the image and likeness of God.  So anytime that human dignity is denied, God Himself is offended, and His image is destroyed.  One might ask how can God be offended since He is not the one being ill-treated?

The answer to this question is given by the story of what happened to Saint Paul (then Saul) on his way to Damascus: “He heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  (Acts 9:4) Saul was persecuting people created in the image and likeness of God.  It follows that any ill treatment of a human person is an ill treatment of God Himself.  And any good treatment of a human person is a good treatment of God Himself.

Let Jesus say it better than I could: “In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40).  It emerges from the preceding statement that “guided by the teaching of the Bible, we must feel obliged to act as the voice of the underprivileged and the poor” (Liberation, #0.6).

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

The second meaning of “Give them something to eat yourselves” is the effort that is expected from each one of us.  The task of working for the Common Good in order to improve people's conditions of life is not an affair of a particular group.  We are all involved in promoting values that consider human dignity.  Jesus knew what he was going to do.  But he wanted his disciples to be part of the process of meeting the basic needs of the people.  In other words, Jesus was promoting “an active participation of everyone in the running of an enterprise” (Gadium et Spes, #68).  The bread came from the crowd.  It means that we cannot fold our hands and wait for God to do everything.

Jesus can help us, can strengthen us in our fight against unjust structures, if only we take the initiative to start something, if only we express our desire to see things change.  Saint Augustine is doubtless not out of line when he says: “God who created us without us, cannot save us without us.”  In other words, “God’s action does not eliminate human initiative and historical responsibility for the earthly city.”  (Church and Human Promotion in Africa: Letter of Bishops of Africa and Madagascar, 1984, #19)  Our participation is a key element in any process of redemption of our human existence.

POVERTY THREATENS SOCIETAL STABILITY

Let me conclude by this powerful text from the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) contained in a 1993 Letter, Hear the cry of the poor: “The suffering of the poor increases daily.  This is not only a moral scandal but also a dangerous threat to our democratic stability”.  This text is an invitation to look seriously at the problem of leading a decent human life faced by the majority of our peoples, and to apply the needed remedies.  Otherwise our countries will never experience a real peace because “many causes of war stem from excessive economic inequalities and from excessive slowness in applying the needed remedies” (Gadium et Spes, #83).  Let us give them something to eat ourselves.

Lord, open my eyes to the wonders of your love.

Open my hands that want to keep everything for myself.

The poor person is hungry in front of my door.

Teach me how to share.

Let not my heart be insensitive to the cry of the poor.

Willy Moka, S.J.
Hekima Jesuit School of Theology
Nairobi