Towards Building One World with A Common Plan

Clearly this global experience of solidarity has given us a sense that we need connection with each other to survive the coronavirus. The pandemic has caused our world to stop and search for ways that we can learn from one another. Life as we have known it will not turn back to way things were. Never have we had such awareness of the need to care for one another in our common home.

Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ calls us to acknowledge that “interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan. “(LS 164) We are at a new place and we need to seize the moment to help create our futures.  We have painful experiences of death, loss of income, scarcity of food, and medical care. We have also seen the compassionate kindness of others reaching out in consolation, postponing payments for debt and rentals, sharing food with strangers. We have come together in prayer online and continue to communicate through the internet. Our heroes are the doctors and the medical staff that have risked their lives for the health of others, as cities acknowledge their heroic actions.

Even as we move forward, we cannot forget that there are many continuing to struggle to survive in the midst of the pandemic, without essential resources, necessary supportive relationships and services.

We are reminded of the impact when “Love overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and it makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world.” (LS 231). As the restrictions are gradually being lifted, let us be mindful of the importance of what we have become during this time and continue to seek guidance from the message of Laudato Si’. Let us begin to build such a common plan to make the world a better place by Sowing Hope for the Planet. Let us keep one another in our prayers for an openness to the workings of the Spirit in our lives and the changes that we need to make as we move forward.