Pope’s November prayer intention: For children who suffer

A girl looks on at a display of Russian weapon systems used in their attacks, outside St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 29, 2022. During the month of November, Pope Francis is asking people to pray for children who are suffering because of poverty, war and exploitation. (CNS photo/Edgar Su, Reuters)
Fr Chris Chatteris SJ reflects on Pope Francis’ prayer intention
Intention: We pray for children who are suffering, especially those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war; may they be guaranteed access to education and the opportunity to experience family affection.
The one who accompanies hurting children truly enters the depths of the mystery of suffering. I often think of this when I pass the large children’s hospital in Cape Town. We really battle to understand, let alone accept, why these innocents experience pain and distress at an age when they should be able to play and experience the carefree joys of childhood.
Our perplexity is compounded when it comes to suffering inflicted on children by grown-ups. Whether it is the Royhinga children who have been made homeless by the politics of Myanmar or Ukrainian kids left orphans by the invasion of their country, there is something in us that revolts against the fact that children suffer because of the stupidity, greed or downright cruelty of adults.
In our own beloved country, we find large numbers of children living in poverty, often having been abandoned by their fathers, sometimes having to adopt the role of adults as “heads” of families, looking after younger siblings, in a state of continual insecurity. These experiences scar our children for life, leaving them emotionally vulnerable and educationally disadvantaged.
So far, we have failed to break the cycle of poverty and deprivation which afflicts the youngest South Africans. This is a severe indictment against us.
The mystery of suffering
The mystery of why children suffer can only ultimately be solved by a vision of a loving God who comes among us and redeems us, enabling us to rise above our human condition — including the inevitable pain and suffering it entails. But this is no excuse for not doing all we can to prevent and alleviate child-suffering in all its forms here and now. Indeed, the realisation of the Kingdom requires it.
We must oppose war for the sake of the children. We must fight poverty for the sake of the children. We must work against ignorance for the sake of the children.
If we put the children in the forefront of our plans for the betterment of this world, we might prevent some of the horrors which have been perpetrated against them in the past and which we are permitting in the present.
And we must pray for the children and for those who care for them and for those whose decisions will affect them for good or for ill.
This article was published in the November 2022 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
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