by Vincent Ojwang | Mar 26, 2025 | JPIC Grassroots News
On the last Tuesday of every month the Missionary Sisters of St. Anthony Mary Claret organise an itinerant lectio divina with our homeless brothers and sisters. The meeting takes place from eight o’clock in the evening “in the house of Paul”. After the closing of the shops near St. Peter’s Square, while some tourists are still passing by, Paul places his suitcase on the ground and covers it with a sheet. It is the altar around which he gathers a small group of friends – destitute people, volunteers from a neighbouring parish, some priests, religious, lay people – to listen and meditate on the Word of God.
This is an initiative of the community where Sister Elaine Lombardi MC lives, who after several years of accompanying this reality, believes that the “homeless” need not only food and blankets, they need something more. As Pope Francis points out in Evangelii Gaudium, in one of the most challenging numbers of this apostolic exhortation: “I want to express with sorrow that the worst discrimination suffered by the poor is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we cannot fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his Word, the celebration of the Sacraments and the proposal of a path of growth and maturing in the faith. The preferential option for the poor must be translated primarily into a privileged and priority religious attention” (EG 200)
This “lectio divina in the street” is a small sign that seeks to respond to Pope Francis’ concern to offer spiritual care to the poor. Each encounter is a unique experience of communion and hope. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Eternal City that is slowly fading away, the small assembly gathers around the Word, seeking in it consolation and strength. Reflections emerge from the concrete reality of those who participate. Some share their experiences of daily struggle, others express their gratitude for having found in this space a moment of peace. The Word of God illuminates the shadows of the street and reminds everyone of their dignity and value. There is no hurry, no distance: in this “Paul’s house”, all are brothers and sisters.
In addition to prayer and reflection, the meeting becomes an opportunity to provide concrete help. Volunteers hand out coffee or hot tea, sandwiches and some blankets for the cold night. However, as Sister Elaine insists, the most important thing is the time shared, the attentive listening and the recognition of each person in their history and suffering. To show the warmth of a community that welcomes and accompanies. “The Gospel calls us to look at the poor with the eyes of Jesus,” says a young volunteer. “Sometimes we think that helping is just giving material things, but they teach us that the most valuable thing is to feel loved, listened to and understood.”
As the evening progresses and the lectio divina comes to an end, some spontaneous petitions are made: for health, for work, for a chance to get ahead. Finally, an Our Father and a blessing mark the end of the meeting, but not the end of the fraternity. Many stay on to talk, share experiences and strengthen the bonds that this initiative has allowed us to weave. For those who participate, this itinerant lectio divina is a reminder that faith is lived in the encounter with others, especially with those whom the world tends to forget. It is a sign of the Kingdom of God that is present in the street, in the night, in the hearts of those who, even in the midst of adversity, continue to trust and hope.
In the context of this Jubilee year dedicated to the theme of hope, it is worth recalling the biblical meaning of the Jubilee as a “year of liberation”, as described by the prophet Isaiah (61:1-2). The passage from Isaiah 61:1-2 occupies a central place in Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus’ visit to Nazareth (Lk 4:14-30). In this inaugural scene, which has a programmatic and solemn value. Jesus proclaims a profoundly transforming message during a liturgy in the synagogue. After reading: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19), Jesus affirms: “Today this scripture which you have just heard has been fulfilled” (Lk 4:21).
The “year of grace” is a key theme in this text and refers back to the Old Testament Jubilee, a time of liberation, restitution and equity that marked the forgiveness of debts and freedom for slaves. However, Jesus redefines this concept as a time of universal grace, excluding any idea of divine vengeance. God’s grace, as Jesus presents it, does not discriminate or exclude; it is a gift offered to all, particularly the poorest and most marginalised
Luke underlines that Jesus’ message cannot be reduced to a merely spiritual interpretation. The “poor” he refers to are those excluded from the goods of this world, and the proclamation of the Good News implies a concrete transformation in their lives. For centuries, an excessive spiritualisation of poverty has led the Church away from its original mission: the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and its justice.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret read the text of Isaiah and Luke in a vocational key:
The Lord made me understand that I would not only have to preach to sinners but that I would also have to preach to and catechize simple farmers and villagers. Hence He said to me, The poor and needy ask for water, and there is none, their tongue is parched with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them (17). I will make rivers well up on barren heights, and fountains in the midst of valleys; turn the wilderness into a lake, and dry ground into a water spring (18).
And God our Lord made me to understand in a very special way those words: Spiritus Dominis super me et evangelizare pauperibus misit me Dominus et sanare contritos corde. (Quoting from memory Lk 4,18 / Cf. Is 61,1) (Aut 118).
Claret understood that his mission was not only to save sinners from hell, but concretely to reach out to the poorest and most uneducated. As we know, he too understood the vocation of his missionaries in the light of these words. Inspired by Isaiah and Luke, he understood that his mission and that of his missionaries was to go out to the most needy. Today we would say to go to the geographical and existential peripheries.
In this sense, the Lectio with the poor in St. Peter’s Square becomes a living testimony of a church going out, which commits itself in a concrete way to those who need it most. In “Paul’s house”, the Word is incarnated in the reality of the homeless, faith is lived through communion, recognition of human dignity and genuine solidarity. This experience reminds us that the Gospel message is not merely a proclamation, but an invitation to let the Good News be proclaimed in humility, through the poor themselves, who by their witness reveal the transforming and humanising face of the Gospel. Thus, in the midst of the cold and the night that grips the Eternal City, the commitment to accompany, liberate and give hope is reaffirmed, making tangible the spirit of the Jubilee and the promise of a year of grace for all. The poor evangelise us!
Edgardo Guzmán CMF
by Vincent Ojwang | Feb 23, 2025 | America, JPIC Grassroots News
Anselmus Baru, cmf
At the end of the year 2024, Father Antonio Llamas asked me to write about the social reality of Venezuela from my missionary experience, so I dare to write these paragraphs; I do not do it from a deep and exhaustive vision of the reality, through this writing I recognize my limitations of interpretation of the context and the facts; with this, I simply want to leave in this text what we have lived in this beautiful country, apart, I tried to highlight some small initiatives that arise from the context, responding to the social reality where we are immersed.
This text was initiated after Nicolás Maduro took his oath as president of Venezuela on 10 January, following the controversial results of the presidential elections of 28 July 2024; Even so, these lines do not intend to make a political analysis after that event, but a sharing of experiences from what we have lived day by day, collecting the moments and missionary actions in the social situation that we face in our mission, and citing some ideas and research results of experts in order to reinforce the ideas in terms of analysis of the complex social reality that we live in Venezuela.
A Complex Social, Political and Economic Reality
For more than a decade, Venezuela has been trapped in a deep crisis that affects all aspects of its economy, starting with the breakdown of the economic model, which depends on oil exports and the economic centrality of the state. Likewise, in recent decades, Venezuela has experienced a political deterioration of its democracy.
There are four factors to understand the Venezuelan crisis according to Victor Mijares (professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of the Andes): First, oil must give it, this is reflected in the relationship of Venezuelans where oil is part of their idiosyncrasy, since oil does not employ more than 150, but it must support 32 million of them; secondly, the state permeates the relationship between state and society, generating a situation of clientelism and paternalism; thirdly, the “civil-military relationship has generated a praetorian power scheme, where the military is the balance´s pivot.”; fourthly, the relationship between Venezuela and the rest of the world, where a few take advantage of oil resources. For Mijares, this situation could be dangerous and uncomfortable, because as such a small country, it is caught in the middle of powers such as Russia, China and the United States.
From this perspective we can understand that Venezuela was once considered one of the richest countries in Latin America, with an economy based on oil, but in recent decades this economy has suffered multiple crises and has become one of the most economically and politically difficult countries in the region.
Indicators such as GDP per capita have declined; since Nicolás Maduro became president, Venezuela has lost US$ 4,825 in GDP per capita, since in 2013, when he took office, it was at US$ 8,692 and by 2024 it had fallen to US$ 3,867, extreme poverty and inequality are realities that reflect a picture of a deteriorating country, trapped by the multiple aspects of the crisis. This reality was worsened by international politics and the economic embargo applied by the United States.
To quote Luis Oliveros, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the Metropolitan University of Venezuela, Venezuela’s oil production at the moment is only a third of what it was fifteen years ago; from this picture, we can imagine that the situation of development in this country is even more difficult. For this reason, one of the strategies applied by the government to keep the country’s economy moving forward is to increase taxes on the private sector, which then brings with it some consequences, including high costs for the business sector and production.
The complex reality, both politically and economically within the country, has caused waves of massive migration of Venezuelans to different countries in America and Europe. According to UNHCR data, more than 7.7 million people have left Venezuela in search of protection and a better life; the majority, more than 6.5 million people, have been taken in by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. But we cannot ignore the fact that this flow of migration creates other problems in the host countries, such as xenophobia, employment opportunities, rights violations, low-cost skilled labour, prostitution and mistreatment and other social problems.
This has caused the absence of professional personnel in the country, health, education, technology and industry, among others; a major concern, however, is the reality of family breakdown caused by migration and the economic effect caused by it, as those who migrate often send money (remittances) to their relatives in the country. According to studies, remittances from abroad play an increasingly important role in the Venezuelan economy, with around 35% of Venezuelan households receiving remittances from abroad frequently or occasionally. Statistics show that the average amount of remittances sent per month stands at US$65, and the total amount of remittances sent amounts to US$3 billion annually. This figure has increased 120% since 2020, when it was around 1.3 billion.
In relation to the economy, the official currency of Venezuela is the Bolivar, although it is not official, the dollar is the currency that circulates most in the economy, thus causing an informal dollarisation. In this reality, the government manages the value of exchange rates through the Venezuelan Central Bank, but with a fluctuating exchange rate that shows the economic instability and the impact it has on the family economy.
According to statistics, the BCV dollar rose only 2.67% in the first nine months of 2024, but since October the increase has been 40.66%, so the variation in the prices of materials, food, health, and life in general, is given according to the exchange rate of the day, hence the economic instability, hindering development and exacerbating the crisis. To this we have to add that the markets do not always charge according to the official rate of the BCV, because there are other exchange models, such as the parallel, the average (which is an exchange rate that is given by averaging the different rates) and this always leads to a variation in prices.
From this point of view, in the year 2023, ENCOVI (National Survey of Living Conditions) conducted a survey, showing the following indicators: 51.9% of the population lives below the poverty line; but, in detail, ENCOVI reports the results of its surveys, indicating that 89% of households suffer from food insecurity and cannot cover the costs of the basic food basket and 70% of the population lives in areas at high risk of natural hazards.
Regarding unemployment figures, there are different statistics, depending on the sources of reference for consultations. For the Venezuelan government, the unemployment rate of its population is 7.8%, while according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) this figure rises to 40.3%. According to data from the Venezuelan Public Services Observatory (OVSP), 77% of Venezuelans have limited access to water, while 11% of the population claims to have access to drinking water any day of the week.
Food, Health and Education
Food, health and education are fundamental issues in the current situation in Venezuela as part of the basic rights of human life. In this situation of crisis, the last few years have marked a profound deterioration in the living conditions of Venezuelans, which is also reflected in the reduction and availability of access to food purchases due to inflation.
Michael Fakhri, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in his visit to Venezuela in February 2024, highlighted “the difficulties Venezuelan families face in meeting their basic needs, resorting to negative measures such as reducing food portions, skipping meals and purchasing less nutritious products”.
This context has affected the health condition of Venezuelans, since according to the data, “30% of public hospitals do not have any type of basic material such as linen, caps, surgical gowns, masks, among others” (“Venezuela: radiography of a health system in crisis”). We found a health care system implemented by the government that favours first aid in the locality in agreement with the Cuban state. At the moment, these care centres are also suffering from a lack of basic materials.
In the midst of the crisis there is the possibility of private health insurance. But their prices are very high. According to the NGO Médicos Unidos por Venezuela, more than 90% of the population cannot afford an insurance policy, nor the cost of care in a private hospital, so most of them depend on a public health system that is in crisis. Access to care in a public hospital for surgery requires a long waiting time to be attended to and the patient has to pay for some of the supplies, which also becomes a traumatic experience for those who have to pay for it.
The educational reality in the country is not very different. The news portal DW (Deutsche Welle) in its report in October 2024, revealed current data based on data from the NGO Observatorio de Derechos Humanos of the University of Los Andes de Venezuela, which states that “more than half” of the country’s teaching staff are “below the poverty line”. In the same article, DW reported that, citing data from the Centre for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (CENDAS-FVM) calculated that the average monthly salary of a teacher is about 21 dollars at the official exchange rate, which would be insufficient to cover the cost of the basic food basket, estimated -in August 2024 by this organisation- at 107.8 dollars per person; in addition, they have to cover support materials, which they cannot find in the institution, and transport to carry out their academic activity.
Against this backdrop, there is a reality of high school dropout and deficit of teaching staff, inadequate infrastructure that does not guarantee the educational processes for the best educational development; in the research of DevTech Systems, in which the University of Los Andes, Venezuela, participates, the main cause of school absenteeism during the period 2020-2021 is given by: “lack of food at home (78.3 per cent), lack of basic services (56.7 per cent), not being able to acquire school materials and supplies (55.5 per cent), health reasons (44.4 per cent), need to help with household chores (43.7 per cent), the student does not want to continue studying (43.5 per cent), the student does not consider education important (39.7 per cent), and cost of transportation (25.9 per cent). More than half of the students (56.9 per cent) reported suffering from food vulnerability”.
Claretian Initiatives From the Line of Solidarity and Mission-SOMI
The Claretian presence in Venezuela is not alien to the reality of its population. Precisely, the sense of the missionary vocation consists in continuing to walk with the people in the midst of this social reality they are living.
Faced with this reality, our Congregation is aware of the most pressing human challenge: the sustainability of human life and of the Common Home. Following the Chapter orientations (QC 81-86), the Province of Colombia Venezuela rereads this global dream, appropriating it to the conditions of the Organism and its two regions of mission and advocacy, We “dream of a Province of Colombia Venezuela with communities committed to the care and defence of the Common Home and to the construction of Interculturality, justice and evangelical peace, within the framework of the project of Solidarity and Mission”.
From this dream, we are marked on the horizon by actions in which we contribute to the realisation of the dignity and equality of individuals, peoples, communities and cultures in their self-determination, sustainability and preservation of the Common Home. Our commitments are beacons that guide our weaving, walking, articulating and influencing from and with our missionary communities, incarnating ourselves in solidarity with the humanity of the poor and the victims, “one cannot be a Claretian as if the poor -and the victims- did not exist, neither can one be a Claretian without denouncing the structures of injustice, without fighting against the system that perpetuates them, proposing alternatives”.
In the midst of the reality of Venezuela, based on our missionary vocation and guided by the lines of action of the congregation, our communities have set up structures for the pastoral animation of Solidarity and Mission, SOMI-Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) at the local, zonal and regional levels in order to boost the social actions in our mission. Therefore, outside the sacramental services in our missionary centres (parishes, schools and the formation house), the situation that surrounds us forces us to look creatively beyond worship, to enter into the social sphere, since religious processes must go hand in hand with the social processes of the people; we cannot be alien to the social reality of the people.
In an organised way, the province through the mission procure, Proclade ColVen, the local community, and the General Mission procure with the support of some organisations of the congregation, our schools, some local NGO’s, Diocesan Caritas, creatively attend to the crisis situation in different areas, responding to the situation according to the context and the need of the area and the local context where we are located.
Some initiatives that can be highlighted are:
- In times of strong crisis and in times of pandemic Covid 19 (2017-2021), and in some missionary centres (San Felix, Delta Amacuro and Merida) continue until today, the initiative “Solidarity Pot” which consists of preparing food and distributing it to the neediest people in different localities where we are present.
- Medical care, which consists in the organisation of a medical dispensary together with other NGOs, religious communities and diocesan Caritas, which attends to the primary care of people in need. This care can be found for example in our parishes in Delta Amacuro, San Felix, Caracas and Mérida.
- Youth experiences, art, culture and sport as a means of resilience. In Venezuela, in each of our missionary centres we continue to support youth work and training, and for 45 years, the ANCLA (Antonio Claret) movement continues to be a hopeful way to train young people to be agents of transformation.
- Training/Courses for entrepreneurship, in mission areas such as Delta Amacuro, San Félix, Barquisimeto, and Mérida, through training for entrepreneurship, handicraft courses are strengthened in order to enable people to support their families.
These experiences are small initiatives and can be very welfare-oriented, but they are a step towards our being able to continue accompanying the social processes of the communities.
In conclusion
In recent years, some said, the reality in Venezuela has improved, and this is reflected in the stocking of supermarkets, where the shelves are full of food, the currency circulating and the prices are in dollars, but in reality, many of the population do not have the purchasing power; therefore, at the social level, there is a big gap between the rich and the poor.
For the Claretians it continues to be a challenge to continue accompanying this people, to walk with them in the midst of their social reality and that new initiatives may arise that help the social processes of the local communities, reaffirming our vocation and missionary presence as a sign of hope in the midst of the social reality that suffers.
