International Day of Human Brotherhood
“Either we will build the future together or there will be no future”
“Religions, in particular, cannot renounce the urgent task of building bridges between peoples and cultures”. So urged Pope Francis at the meeting centred on the document “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Common Coexistence” – signed in Abu Dhabi on 4 February 2018- promoted the following year, in Rome, by the Instituto para el dialogo interreligioso de la Argentina. (www.vatican.vl)
SHARED SPIRITUALITY AS THE WAY TO THE FUTURE
By putting the primacy of spirituality first, Pope Francis has moved in the line of many 20th century thinkers from different backgrounds:
– “The 21st century will be spiritual or not at all”
(A. Malraux, writer)
– “The Christian of the future will be mystical or not even Christian”
(K. Rahner, theologian)
– “The failure of a hyper-technical world generates
an immense need for spirituality”
(L.V. Thomas, anthropologist)
Photo: www.attiva-mente.inf
Fraternity is a complex human reality
«The first question about fraternity in the Bible is “Where is your brother?”, no one can answer: I do not know, I am not my brother’s keeper (cf. Gen 4:9). Then several questions arise: “How do we care for each other in the one human family in which we are all brothers? How can we nurture a fraternity so that it is not theoretical and so that it translates into brotherhood? How can we make the inclusion of the other prevail over exclusion in the name of belonging? What can we do so that religions are channels of fraternity instead of barriers of division?» (Pope Francis, 4 February 2019).
LET'S WORK TOGETHER, LET'S PRAY TOGETHER,
LET'S HOPE TOGETHER... YOUNG AND OLD!
