The war in Ukraine and the enormous difficulties that inflation is causing in the daily life of many homes put us on the track that the birth of Jesus is today closer than ever to the poor and vulnerable. Aware of the enormous effort that these people make to recover their place in society, Cáritas has launched its traditional Christmas campaign with the slogan “Only love illuminates everything”.
According to the report “The cost of living and family strategies to address it”, almost two out of ten vulnerable households have been forced to go to the parish, social services or an NGO to cover their basic food needs. Most of these people suffer severe exclusion. The FOESSA report -presented by Cáritas at the beginning of the year- estimates that more than two million families are in this extremely precarious situation in our country.
At Cáritas we know that each report we carry out, each figure or each data tells the story of real people with voice and soul, people who fight to recover their dignity and rights. Reports are road signs that allow us to see reality, to interpret it, and to discern what to do with it.
In their daily work, the more than 5,400 parish Caritas are direct witnesses of the wounds that these difficult and complex times are leaving a large part of the population. Wars, waves of migration between countries and the aftermath of the pandemic coexist with other no less violent and close shadows, such as precarious employment, the social exclusion suffered by one in three young people, the scarcity of affordable housing for those with fewer resources or the mental health problems and the loneliness that is becoming entrenched in the streets and homes.
God is present
Despite all this, Christmas comes as the favorable time in which God is present in the midst of our history. Today, and despite the weakness of our faith, it also seems incredible to us that God becomes ‘One’ with our fragile, sometimes petty and incoherent humanity, and that he chooses to place his house in the midst of the poor. God continues to be born to humanize us and plant in us the desire for goodness that makes it possible to expect something new capable of disrupting and changing our shadows into gloom that leave room for light.
Through its campaign, Cáritas invites all of society to become aware that the Love we share with other people makes us equal as humanity, makes us a great family and calls us to enjoy the common good that aspires to be embodied in the full access of all people to human rights.
Convinced that Love is the engine that drives us to put ourselves in the place of the other, Caritas proposes to take advantage of this Advent season to share the joy of loving others. This Christmas we want to bring light and feel like bearers of light, responsible and committed to the meaning of Christmas, the birth of life in each person, with those who have less, with those who feel lonely and sad.
A very special Christmas carol
The Cáritas Christmas campaign opens for yet another year with its traditional Christmas carol. This year comes from the hand of ‘Always like this’. The Sevillian group has generously volunteered to be the musical band for this Christmas campaign thanks to the solidarity action of the San Pablo-CEU Foundation.
‘Always like this’ has chosen the popular Christmas carol “Los peces en el río”. The clip was recorded at the Cáritas Seville Diocesan Employment Center and volunteers and people in training participated in it. For the third consecutive year, the production company Warner Music has ceded the rights to the Christmas carol to Cáritas Española.
“We are very grateful, in this very special year Forever Like This, in which we celebrate 30 years in music, for having received this invitation from Cáritas Española to do our bit in its traditional, admirable and exemplary Christmas campaign that we love so much. excites every year and so necessary for many people. An honor and an unforeseen gift that has reached the depths of our hearts. We have put the best of ourselves to, through our way of understanding music and a beautiful video clip directed by Javier Morete, send the world from our Andalusia a message of joy, hope and solidarity”, he assures Rafael Almarchafrom ‘Always Like This’.
