Reflection
If we wrap Christianity around ourselves and dismiss other paths to seeking God, we forget the message of inclusive love taught by Jesus. We forget that religion is not God but a path to knowing God. We forget that religions have evolved through human history into what they are at the present time. The public hostilities that emanate from persons who proudly proclaim their Christianity are not consistent with the way of Jesus or his prayer that “all may be one.” We need to be careful that we are not seduced by words of meaningless differences while thinking we are living as Christians.
Prayer
That all may be one.
Action
Examine words that are pious but misguided. Do not support slogans and causes that trivialize the good will and faith of others or generate baseless outrage on social media. Respect others who are also seeking God. Read
Suggested Reading
Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
Matthew 7:21
Our various religious traditions serve society primarily by the message they proclaim. They call individuals and communities to worship God, the source of all life, liberty and happiness.
Pope Francis
How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.
Thomas Aquinas
Christianity is a religion of ‘wholemaking’, the dynamism of gathering persons into communal wholes; it is a religion of wholeness in relation to other religions of wholeness as well.
Ilia Delio
The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
Mahatma Gandhi
As we grow in our consciousness, there will be more compassion and more love, and then the barriers between people, between religions, between nations will begin to fall. Yes, we have to beat down the separateness.
Ram Dass
The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
Thomas Merton
Beware the religion that turns you against another one. It’s unlikely that it’s really religion at all.
Joan Chittister
Most Christian ‘believers’ tend to echo the cultural prejudices and worldviews of the dominant group in their country, with only a minority revealing any real transformation of attitudes or consciousness.
Richard Rohr
Spirituality is not just about religion, or church attendance, or fidelity to one or other legal requirement. Spirituality is understood to be an innate wisdom of the human heart that enlivens a zest for life, a search for meaning and purpose, a love for all that is good and beautiful, a passion to create a better world, a sensitivity to the life-energy (God, if you wish) that permeates the entire cosmos.
Diarmuid O’Murchu