At the heart of Pope Francis’ most recent Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” is this simple and beautiful vision of the Gospel: that God our Father has created every human being with sanctity and dignity, with equal rights and duties, and that our Creator calls us to form a single human family in which we live as brothers and sisters. Sunday’s Gospel (Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24,35-48) encouraged us to go beyond this simple and beautiful vision, to actually giving witness to these things.
The Holy Father wants the Church to be actively at work in our society, actively engaged in helping our neighbors to see that we are called to create a shared community in which every human person is cherished and respected. In “Fratelli Tutti,” the Pope offers a reflection on how important it is for us to maintain our Catholic identity as we work for the common good of society. We are prompted to see that the wellspring of human dignity and fraternity is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The challenge is to give witness to Christ and His Good News. After all, we are His followers! We are not liberals or conservatives. The Church is not a political party and we are not activists. We are Catholics. Before everything else, this is our identity, this is who we are.
So, as Catholics, we start with very distinct assumptions about the purpose of society, the meaning of life, and the happiness of the human person. If we believe that God is our Father, then we must believe and act as if all men and women are our brothers and sisters. If we believe that Jesus died for the love of every person, then we know that “no one is beyond the scope of His universal love,” as the Pope writes. If we embrace Christ’s vision, let us also heed His call: “You are witness of these things.”
Let us pray. “O God, true source of wholeness and peace, in a world bearing fresh wounds of suffering and grief, you call us to be a people of healing. Help us to reach out to neighbors in need, to bear one another’s burdens, to weep with those who weep. Give us the grace to share the comfort of Christ with all those who long for his healing touch. Help us to hold in our hearts and show in our lives what we proclaim with our lips: goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; and hope is stronger than despair. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
