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Whether it is people in Gaza or Ukraine or Nigeria or Iran or Minneapolis, or LGBTQ or migrants or death row inmates, we are all beloved children of God.
And all of us deserve to be treated with dignity. I think the church has been very clear about that, and I’m grateful for that. That’s not a political message; that’s the Gospel.
~ Fr. James Martin, in his book Work in Progress
Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”. If we want to encounter and help one another, we have to dialogue. There is no need for me to stress the benefits of dialogue. I have only to think of what our world would be like without the patient dialogue of the many generous persons who keep families and communities together. Unlike disagreement and conflict, persistent and courageous dialogue does not make headlines, but quietly helps the world to live much better than we imagine.
“Life must always be welcomed and protected. These two things go together – welcome and protection, from conception to natural death. All of us are called to respect life and care for it.”
Pope Francis
“Now more than ever, humanity cries out and pleads for peace…. War does not solve problems. On the contrary, it amplifies them and causes deep wounds in the history of peoples—wounds that take generations to heal. No military victory can ever compensate for a mother’s pain, a child’s fear, or a stolen future.”
Pope Leo XIV
“If you do not find God in the stranger, in the refugee, in the poor, you will not find him in the Eucharist either”.
paraphrasing St John Chrysostom
“If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor. If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you.”
St. Thomas of Villanova