12/12/2020 at 5:34 PM
Posted by Kevin Edward White
By Fr. Paul Ariole, Catholic Herald, December 12, 2020
“Do not fear for I am with you…” (Isaiah 41:10); “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). These words of the scriptures succinctly summarize the words of Jesus, through the mouth of his servant to the world that suffers from innumerable threats, a world in need of whispering hope. Exactly 342 days into a world tragedy whose first cluster was recorded in Wuhan, and 63 days after the publication of the Papal Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti”, the Holy Father addresses the world with a message of hope; he calls for a recognition of those who continue to “live in the shadows” – ordinary people whose works are often overlooked yet contribute greatly to the welfare of all. The Holy Father takes us through the ingredients that are key to our continued survival as we live through a time of dark clouds and shattered dreams. This I consider to be timely (on spot) especially as a New Year dawns. In “Fratelli Tutti’, Pope Francis describes the planet as an organism of which all of us are cells with different purposes, and yet we are intertwined serving each other and in the long run serving the whole.