Reflection
There is an immense task incumbent on people of good will, namely, the task of restoring the relations of the human family in truth, in justice, in love and in freedom – the relations between individual human beings; between citizens and their respective political communities; between political communities themselves; between individuals, families, immediate associations, and political communities on the one hand, and the world community on the other. This is a most exalted task, all will agree, for it is the task of bringing about true peace in the order established by God. Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying leaven amidst the world community.
Pope John XXIII
Prayer
May we be open to one another and seek unity.
Action
Consider the situation in which we find ourselves as a nation. How can we begin to restore relationships with one another? How can you contribute to healing and stop destructive rhetoric and behavior? As a community of believers how can we be “a spark of light, a center of love, and a vivifying leaven”?
Suggested Reading
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
1 Thessalonians 3:12
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
James 3:16The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity.
Pope Francis
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 only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
J.K. Rowling
Remember upon the conduct of each depend the fate of all.
Alexander The Great
When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
Winston S. Churchill
You don’t get unity by ignoring the questions that have to be faced.
Jay Weatherill
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.
Mahatma Gandhi
we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The problem is politics is made a sport, almost as much a sport as football or baseball. When it comes to politics, adults and politicians do more finger-pointing and play more games than children ever do. Too often are we rooting for the pride of a team rather than the good of the nation.
Criss Jami
Politics, after all, is largely about power. And power goes to the core of our issues of control and narcissism and need to be right and tendency to divide the human race into ‘us’ vs. ‘them.
John Ortberg
In my view – which could be wrong, but it is my field – there is no better formula for social instability than to divide a society between two ascribed characteristics that are seen as opposite.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan