Reflection
As we reflect on the experience of this Christmas, we realize our commonality in this moment of planetary distress. We are one family sharing our small planet as we spin through space. This is the human family of which we all are a part. This is our home and these are our brothers and sisters. We cannot be irresponsible, selfish, or unjust. The image of the family of Nazareth reminds us that we are not alone. God journeys with us as we journey together. Christmas teaches that God is at home with us.
Prayer
May we all be one in You.
Action
Reflect on the unity of the human family. Expand that to include nonhuman inhabitants of our planet. How does this change your attitude toward all God’s creation?
Suggested Reading
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Luke 2:51
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.
Col 3: 12-21
It is worthwhile to live as a family, that a society grows strong, grows in goodness, grows in beauty and truly grows if it is built on the foundation of the family.
Pope Francis
If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
Kofi Annan
If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable — each segment distinct.
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.
Rabindranath Tagore
To become a true global citizen, one must abandon all notions of otherness and instead embrace togetherness.
Suzy Kassem
It can be helpful to think of humanity like a pearl necklace. Each human being is a pearl with distinct characteristics, but underneath there is a string that ties us all together, invisible to the naked eye.
Gudjon Bergmann,
We all belong to the world, and the world belongs to us all.
Matshona Dhliwayo