Reflection
Sometimes it is necessary to reflect on whether we live our religion but we are ignoring the gospel. We need to look at whether we are strong in observances while we buy into the stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes afloat toward the poor, the alien, and those different from ourselves. If we listen to ourselves as we speak, do we hear ourselves repeating things and ask ourselves whether these things are unifying or divisive, who they came from and whether they are what we really believe and why. It’s important to make the connections between the words of Jesus, what we really believe, and how wechoose to act in our daily lives.
Prayer
I believe; help my unbelief.
Action
Before you pass them on, make it a practice to view through the lens of the gospel the things you hear or what you tend to repeat.
Suggested Reading
Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” Then he will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25:35-40
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 4:19-21
Real prayer- real immersion in the scriptures- confronts us with a side of life that confronts the world as we know it. Once we hear the blind man calling for help; once we see the hungry waiting for food; once the scripture brings to light the effect of law over love, we are impelled to change.
Joan Chittister, OSB
One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal.
Henri Nouwen
We are all one – or at least we should be – and it is our job, our duty, and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation.
Roy Barnes
What we need is not more distrust and division. What we need now is acceptance.
Tom Daschle
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
Audre Lorde
We simply must find ways both to bridge the differences that still seem to divide us and focus on the things that we share.
Janet Reno
Since all believers are in the one body of Christ, there should be no divisions in Christ.
Henry Hon