Let Us Dream Part Three: Let us Act
What can we do? So often we hear that question when people learn of a tragedy or a need. We want to do something to help. Throughout the months and now the year of the global pandemic courageous, generous people have asked and answered that question for loved ones and total strangers, near and far.
In Part Three of Let Us Dream, Pope Francis discusses taking action which is the logical next step after we have assessed the reality around us (Part One) and discerned how God is calling us to respond (Part Two). Our whole world has been turned upside down by the pandemic. Together we have experienced suffering, death, isolation and losses of every kind. Losses we could not have imagined the year before. The poor and the most vulnerable suffered the most. During this time of pandemic many people united to address Covid-19 and its consequences.
Solidarity and the Common Good
As life returns to “normal,” the Holy Father urges us to remain a people—loving, caring and supporting each other. The temptation will be to retreat to our former camps and once again wall off the other in our pursuit of power. We do not need to ignore our differences, but we have to let the “common good” help us work through and rise above the divisions. He urges us to “expand our horizons”(p.126) and not “remain in conflicts and grievances.” (p. 127)
“Unless we accept the principle of solidarity among the peoples, we will not come out of this crisis better.” (p.100)
Our greatest power is not in the respect that others have for us, but the service we can offer others. In every action we carry out for the sake of others we lay the foundations for restoring the dignity of our peoples and communities, and in so doing allow us to better heal, care and share.
Let Us Dream pp. 126-127
We will make a difference when action towards the common good takes place in our personal lives, in our communities, our businesses and at the local, national and international levels.
My Take Away from Part Three of Let Us Dream
What we have learned about how we lived and ministered both before and during the pandemic can inform the choices we make going forward. While we may try to return to the past (what some call normal), we may find that inadequate for where we are today. We have been changed in ways that we may not fully understand ourselves. We have seen needs that were hidden. Let us not turn away from this reality.
I pray that all of us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves will find new and effective ways to offer healing and hope to those we serve—especially to the marginalized, and where we can to change the systems and structures that keep them on the periphery. That is how we will be the people God has called us to be.
“We must not let the current clarifying moment pass us by. Let it not be said, in years to come, that in response to the coronavirus crisis we failed to act to restore the dignity of our peoples, to recover our memory and to remember our roots.” (pp. 99-100)
Your comments are welcome.
