The annual ritual of welcoming a new year has already come and gone. We have welcomed 2016 with renewed hope and several resolutions. For many, welcoming a new year is like pushing a reset button. It allows for the discarding of the old in order to fix our hopes and desires on newer, better things. Personally, I welcomed 2016 by making my belly extremely happy and full. Surrounded by members of the Peruvian community of Savannah, I tasted a complete selection of Peruvian dishes including papa rellena, tamales, turkey and causa.
As Catholics, we have received a special resolution for this year from Pope Francis himself. He gave this clear and concrete resolution during his remarks for the 49th Word Day of Peace on the first day of the year: “I want to invite the Church to pray and work so that every Christian will have a humble and compassionate heart, one capable of proclaiming and witnessing to mercy.” Not only is he challenging us with this resolution, he has given us a Jubilee Year of Mercy for us to put it into practice. The Year of Mercy may come to an end in several months, but its effects will remain if we enter into it wholeheartedly and allow God’s grace to transform us into more humble and compassionate people.
The Pope’s words for this World Day of Peace emerge as a hopeful message in the midst of what he calls a “third world war fought piecemeal.” Indifference towards God in modernity has led to an indifference toward the suffering and needs of others as well as an indifference toward God’s creation, the environment. He notes that this indifference has led to self-absorption and a lack of commitment in individuals, while in a larger scale, it has prolonged injustice, social imbalance, poverty, disregard of human rights, destruction of the environment, and war.
The cure for indifference is mercy and solidarity. Francis quoted Pope John Paul II’s definition of solidarity writing that solidarity is, “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good… to the good of all and of each individual.” Solidarity is not a vague sense of compassion and good wishes for others, but a concrete attitude that reaches out to others, aware of the interdependence of humankind. Pope Francis concludes that the fruit of solidarity, mercy and compassion is peace.
As 2015 ends with the many tragedies and horrors it brought to the world, the Pope challenges us to show solidarity. The devastating image of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi from Syria that made it to the mainstream media comes to mind. This child drowned along with his mother and brother as they attempted to reach the Greek Island of Kos. His lifeless little body dressed in red and blue lay on the sandy beach. With this happening, how can we remain indifferent? Mercy and solidarity alone will bring peace.
Pictures are mine, all rights reserved.
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