By Katie Beckmann Mahon, Communications Manager
This week’s “Embracing Faith” article will focus on Embracing Faith through Relationships.
“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:31
Over the past week, I have done my best to stay off of social media and avoid watching the news.
Since the tragic death of George Floyd, our media outlets have become full of so much chaos, violence, and hate, that it almost makes you forget about COVID-19.
The devastating footage of riots and its sensationalism in certain areas have overshadowed the peaceful protests that have taken place around the country.
As the dust settles from this past weekend and we move forward, we have to think about this question: Where do we go from here?
Unfortunately, this is a question that has an unknown answer.
As churches, synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship begin to re-open, we can only hope that an increased presence of religion and faith can help heal tense relationships among communities around the country.
In his Pentecost Sunday homily, Pope Francis shared, “We need the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit today. The church needs it to walk in harmony and to witness courageously to the Gospel. The entire human family needs it so as to come out of the crisis more united, not more divided. You know that from a crisis such as this we do not come out the same as we were before; we come out either better or worse. Let us have the courage to change, to be better, to be better than before, and to be able to build positively the post-crisis world.” (1)
During his homily, Pope Francis also denounced “the three enemies” of narcissism, victimhood, and pessimism. (2)
“When someone thinks this way, the one thing that certainly does not return is hope. In these three -- the narcissistic idol of the mirror, the ‘mirror-god;’ ‘I feel like a person with grievances;’ and the ‘god-negativity,’ ‘everything is black, everything is dark’ -- we find ourselves in the famine of hope, and we need to appreciate the gift of life, the gift that each of us is. Therefore we need the Holy Spirit, God's gift that heals us from narcissism, victimhood, and pessimism, heals us from the mirror, from grievances and darkness.” (2)
As we move forward in the upcoming weeks ahead, we need to follow Pope Francis’ words and focus on how we can heal relationships with our neighbors, make a positive change for all communities, and truly achieve social justice for every person.
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