12 th March, 2006

Second Sunday of Lent - Year B

S: Good morning - Today is the second Sunday of Lent and we’re on about Generosity.

B: A number of years ago the catch phrase, “Give a little it would help a lot” was made widely known by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and it's as true today as it was then. While Lent is about giving things up it is also about being generous with our resources. So the few bob towards charities doesn’t go astray.

S: You know Brenda, the Trocaire Lenten Campaign is well underway and if you haven’t got a Trocaire box you can get them through your local church. The focus of the campaign this year is children and that “every child has a right to a childhood”. Here are some facts from the side of the box...

• €2 a day could provide five families in Latin America with seeds and tools, ensuring them food, an income and a livelihood.
• €2 a day could provide a set of primary school books to 50 children in Somalia.
• €2 a day could enable an ex-child soldier in Angola to produce a year’s food for himself and his family.
• €2 a day could provide four basis health care kits for communities in Mozambique.

B: The side of the Trocaire box also has the story of Jamie Ruiz from Nicaragua. It goes: My name is Jamie Ruiz. I am nine years old. I do not go to school every day. Instead my brothers and I work on the coffee plantation with our mother. Every morning we get up early, at 5am. It is dark so we can see the stars. If it’s busy, we get up at 2am. The work is very hard. Sometimes my hands hurt and I feel really tired. At 6 in the evening we go home and eat supper before we go to bed. Maybe some day I will learn about you.

Makes you think – doesn’t it?

... So do be as generous as you can be this Lent.

S: Next weekend we’re celebrating St Patrick and celebrating what it means to be Irish and how we can continue to give of our best to our country and to our world

B: I guess for a small country we imagine ourselves to have a large voice in the world scale of things and maybe we do – whatever influence each of us has, maybe we use it for good especially for peace in our world, and take comfort from the fact that God is by all our sides.

S: You’ve been listening to “Just a thought” with Seamus Madigan…..

B: and Brenda Cribbin. We can be contacted through the Limerick Diocesan Offices at 66 O’ Connell Street or by e-mailing smadigan@limerickdiocese.org. If you would like your own copy of this reflection you can download it by clicking on limerickdiocese.org

B: We look forward to your company again next week, so take care…..

S& B: Byee……….

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