麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Michael Kelly

Good morning!

I鈥檝e always found it a quirky little fact that some variation of the injunction 鈥榙on鈥檛 be afraid鈥� appears in the Holy Bible 365 times. That鈥檚 one for every day of the year!

Pope John Paul II, who was born this week in 1920, took that message with him all over the world. The most-travelled Pontiff in history, he chanted the words 鈥榖e not afraid鈥� in almost every corner of the globe.

Born Karol Wojty艂a, the Polish Pontiff spent most of his pre-papal life living under totalitarian regimes. He spoke about it often.

Speaking to young pilgrims in 2002, he said: 鈥渁lthough I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young鈥�.

Hope can sometimes be in short supply 鈥� and we so desperately need prophets of hope in our world today. People who tell us about human solidarity and fraternity. People who speak up against divisions, those who want to separate us 鈥� people who know that we are all part of one human family.

Difference is part of life, but in celebrating difference we are 鈥� paradoxically 鈥� celebrating what binds us: our common humanity.

And we鈥檙e invited to move beyond tolerance, to celebrate people in all of their rich humanity and to learn from one another.

So, today I pray for the virtue of hope: to be a prophet of hope in the corner of the world that I occupy, and to reject that what separates us and instead embrace what unites.

Amen.

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