Reflection
Where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:15-20
To come together for the common good is the essence of community. We move beyond ourselves to understand what is needed by all and to work together to achieve it. To gather in the name of Jesus is to gather espousing his values. As we look at the world in which we are living, we see how much this is needed and how impossible it seems. Yet, the gospels mentions “two or three”, a small number, to start to change the consciousness of the whole.
In our time we desperately need to gather together to address the challenges of global climate change, the challenges of peace between and within nations and ethnic groups, the effects of our dysfunctional political system, the fact that all people do not enjoy basic human rights, to work to end racial and ethnic discrimination, to protect people from a pandemic, from unjust imprisonment and oppression, to end trafficking, and to guarantee the rights of free speech and economic opportunity. It seems overwhelming and unreal. But change begins with a few impassioned committed people.
In our time we must gather together to put life into the radical loving vision of Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Today, if you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.
Psalm 95
Action
Each of us can do something about one of these issues. What can you do? Are there “one or two” with whom you can gather? How can you take a first step?
Suggested Reading
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:19-20
To understand one another, and to grow in charity and truth, we need to pause, to accept and listen to one another. In this way we already begin to experience unity. Unity grows along the way, it never stands still. Unity happens when we walk together.
Pope Francis
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
Theodore Roosevelt
On this shrunken globe, we can no longer live as strangers.
Adlai E. Stevenson
The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
It’s when we start working together that the real healing takes place… it’s when we start spilling our sweat, and not our blood.
David Hume
I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.
Isabel Allende
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
Helen Keller
The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.
Thomas Stallkamp
We’re in this together, and if we united and we inter-culturally cooperated, then that might be the key to humanity’s survival.
Jeremy Gilley
Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.
Anthony J. D’Angelo
If you believe you can make a difference, then you will make a difference. Believe in yourself, your family and your community and you will win.
Lindsay Fox