Reflection
Yom Kippur also known as the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn of the Jewish holidays. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. It is a day set aside to “afflict the soul,” to atone for the sins of the past year, a day for amendment of behavior and seeking of forgiveness for wrongs done against God and against others. As world citizens, we have much to atone for as we review what we have done and continue to do to one another, to the community of life, and to earth itself. Our personal atoning for wrongs against others requires first seeking reconciliation with them and righting the wrongs committed against them if possible. This is also the atonement needed toward other living creatures and this plundered earth, even as we realize the enormity and idealism of the challenge. Today focuses on a requirement and a call to all of us; it is a reminder that the love of God and the love of others can never be separated.
Prayer
Wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalm 51
Action
If I have broken relationships, I will seek reconciliation if possible. I will pray for forgiveness and reconciliation among the divided factions within our country and not contribute to the factors that cause them. I will reflect on and take seriously my relationship with all living beings and this beautiful earth.
Suggested Reading
Who can say “I have purified my heart, I am free of sin?
There is no man on earth so righteous that he never sins!”
Cast away the evil you have done and get yourself a new heart and a new spirit.
Prov. 20:9
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for the One who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.
Hebrews 10:16-19
My thoughts also extend to the Jewish Communities in the world, in the hope that these feasts may bring abundant blessings from the Eternal One and be a source of intimate joy. May the Almighty, in His eternal mercy, strengthen everywhere our bonds of friendship and the desire to foster constant dialogue for the good of all. Shalom Aleichem.
Pope Francis
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holy of holies of Jewish time. It is that rarest of phenomena, a Jewish festival without food. Instead it is a day of fasting and prayer, introspection and self-judgment when, collectively and repeatedly, we confess our sins and pray to be written into God’s Book of Life.
Jonathan Sacks
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
Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn’t be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.
Corazon Aquino
What is past is past, there is a future left to all who have the virtue to repent and the energy to atone.
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
Of all acts of humanity repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.
Thomas Carlyle