Set forth in faith with new eyes

on the many faces of the poor

Roberto O. Guevara
Ateneo de Manila University
2015 CEAP National Convention
2 October 2015
SMX Convention Center, Pasay City

You seem so holy

so very close to God.
But Im still very hungry
and lonely
and cold.
And I thank you.

In the final analysis, poverty means death:

lack of food and housing, the inability to attend
properly to health and education needs, the
exploitation of workers, permanent
unemployment, the lack of respect for one's
human dignity, and unjust limitations placed
on personal freedom in the areas of selfexpression, politics, and religion.
-- Gustavo Gutierrez

Five Invitations
1
To be with, draw closer to,
and encounter the poor
in a deeper way.

When the heart is able to ask itself and

weep, then we can understand something.
Dear young boys and girls, todays world
doesnt know how to cry.... Certain realities
of life we only see through eyes cleansed by
our tears. I invite each one here to ask
yourself: have I learned how to weep? Have
I learned how to weep for the emarginated
or for a street child who has a drug problem
or for an abused child?
-- Pope Francis

Five Invitations
2
To see the poor in a new
light.

Five Invitations
3
To learn from the poor.

How many young people among you are like

this? You know how to give and yet have you
ever learned how to receive? You still lack
one thing.... To learn how to receive with
humility. To learn to be evangelized by the
poor, by those we help, the sick, orphans,
they have so much to give us. Have I
learned how to beg?....This is what helps you
mature in your commitment to give to
others. Learn how to open your hand from
your very own poverty.
-- Pope Francis

Five Invitations
4
To take on the struggles of
the poor as our own.

Five Invitations
5
To see in the liberation of
the poor our own
liberation as well.

Five Invitations
1. To be with, draw closer to, and

encounter the poor in a deeper way.

2. To see the poor in a new light.

3. To learn from the poor.
4. To take on the struggles of the poor
as our own.
5. To see in the liberation of the poor
our own liberation as well.

Challenges
1
Greater attention to student
formation programs
Inculcating a sense of vocation in
students

Disciplinal training in the service of

others Service-Learning

Grounding in Catholic social teachings

Challenges
2
Enhancing teacher formation
Modern man listens more willingly to
witnesses than to teachers, and if he
listens to teachers, it is because they
are witnesses (Pope Paul VI).

Challenges
3
Greater attention to community
impact
Evaluating/Measuring the impact of
our outreach

Tapping into the CEAP network