“We need to move beyond ourselves, because we need one another. The pandemic has made us realize that “no one is saved alone” (Fratelli Tutti, 54). Still, the temptation to withdraw from others is never-ending, yet at the same time we know that “the notion of ‘every man for himself’ will rapidly degenerate into a free-for-all that would prove worse than any pandemic” (Fratelli Tutti, 36). Amid the tempests we are currently experiencing, such isolation will not save us.”
“Brothers and sisters of different religions, here we find ourselves at home, and from here, together, we wish to commit ourselves to fulfilling God’s dream that the human family may become hospitable and welcoming to all his children.”
“As children of Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with other believers and all persons of good will, we thank you for having given us Abraham, a distinguished son of this noble and beloved country, to be our common father in faith.”
“The way that heaven points out for our journey is another:
the way of peace. It demands, especially amid the tempest, that we row together on the same side. It is shameful that, while all of us have suffered from the crisis of the pandemic, especially here, where conflicts have caused so much suffering, anyone should be concerned simply for his own affairs.”
Pope Francis constantly spoke of Abraham as “our common father
---However, Jesus clearly taught that it was
not the carnal descendants that counted, or our fleshly connection to
Abraham that mattered. What matters to God is whether you are the
spiritual seed of Abraham. In fact, Jesus denied that the Jews of His
day were the true children of Abraham because they did not live his life
or manifest his same character. Read John 8:37-44." AdventMessenger
