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Good Morning “If you think we’ve got hell on earth now, you just get ready!” The words of David Beasley, the World Food Programme’s executive director this week who urged governments to donate more funding to stave off global hunger. A perfect storm has arisen as one crisis has compounded another with enormous challenges for the global food chain. Dame Barbara Woodward, UK ambassador to the UN, said that 1.7bn people across the globe would be affected, one way or another. And there are fears as poverty strengthens its grip both internationally and locally, about the effects of malnutrition on the poor and especially children. I’ve just returned to my parish following a three-month sabbatical. And I have been really shocked by how people’s concerns and worries have changed since Christmas. People of all ages and backgrounds are faced daily with difficult decisions about how and what to eat; about how much, if at all, they can heat their homes. We are faced with new challenges on an almost daily basis just to make sure that people are OK. In one of the Gospel stories, after some expensive ointment has been poured over him, Jesus famously observes “you always have the poor with you” – a phrase often banded about when talking about a Christian theology of dealing with poverty at any level. And it may even come across to some as flippant or even heartless. But Jesus simply seems to be saying that almsgiving and supporting the poor is something we have always had to deal with. It isn’t new. But that’s not to say that it’s not vitally important and the responsibility of all of us, It was, for sure, an intrinsic part of Jewish piety which formed and fashioned Jesus and which is reflected in the Hebrew psalms where the challenge of dealing with the poor and poverty is never far from the surface. Which is why it is to the Psalms that I personally look for spiritual nourishment as I reflect on the evolving challenges around poverty facing individuals and families not least in my own parish. The message is unsurprisingly clear. The voice of the poor must be heard. Those who do nothing or oppress the poor face sure judgement. A true blessing is offered to those who hear the voice of the poor and respond in a righteous and meaningful way.