As 2013 draws to a close and we take stock of where we are in T&T/the world, it is clear that, in many ways, our world is in a sorry state and desperately needs healing. We continue to close our hearts to the needs of millions of our brothers and sisters.
Read Pope Francis’ first message for World Day of Peace on the theme: “Fraternity, the foundation and pathway to peace.” When the theme was announced in August, the Vatican pointed out that “an overemphasis on ‘personal well-being’ and general indifference have eroded any sense of responsibility toward others.” His Peace message highlights “the need to combat the ‘throwaway culture’ and to promote instead a ‘culture of encounter’, in order to build a more just and peaceful world.”
In his message, he reminds us that the basis of fraternity is found in God’s fatherhood. “Fraternity is an essential human quality, for we are relational beings. A lively awareness of our relatedness helps us to look upon and to treat each person as a true sister or brother; without fraternity it is impossible to build a just society and a solid and lasting peace… fraternity is generally first learned in the family…The family is the wellspring of all fraternity, and as such it is the foundation and the first pathway to peace, since, by its vocation, it is meant to spread its love to the world around it.”
The role of physical therapy in the treatment of erectile dysfunction of viagra cheap canada male reproductive organs. It is NOT sold in any store in generic viagra soft any country of the world. However, using such birth control medicines on an excess, definitely has an effect on women’s menstrual cycle which could only mean that it compromises over the quality. sildenafil 100mg tab Getting Help: Vigorelle Cream is an herbal formulation designed to increase the size of the penis. cheap price viagra His reading of the signs of the times is “spot on”. He says we live in a “world marked by a ‘globalisation of indifference’ which makes us slowly inured to the suffering of others and closed in on ourselves. In many parts of the world, there seems to be no end to grave offences against fundamental human rights, especially the right to life and the right to religious freedom. The tragic phenomenon of human trafficking, in which the unscrupulous prey on the lives and the desperation of others, is but one unsettling example of this. Alongside overt armed conflicts are the less visible but no less cruel wars fought in the economic and financial sectors with means which are equally destructive of lives, families and businesses.
“Globalisation, as Benedict XVI pointed out, makes us neighbours, but does not make us brothers. The many situations of inequality, poverty and injustice, are signs not only of a profound lack of fraternity, but also of the absence of a culture of solidarity. New ideologies, characterised by rampant individualism, egocentrism and materialistic consumerism, weaken social bonds, fuelling that ‘throwaway’ mentality which leads to contempt for, and the abandonment of, the weakest and those considered ‘useless’…What is needed is the willingness to ‘lose ourselves’ for the sake of others rather than exploiting them, and to ‘serve them’ instead of oppressing them for our own advantage…
“Christian solidarity presumes that our neighbour is loved not only as ‘a human being with his or her own rights and a fundamental equality with everyone else, but as the living image of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and placed under the permanent action of the Holy Spirit’, as another brother or sister…
“The lack of fraternity between peoples and men and women is a significant cause of poverty. In many societies, we are experiencing a profound poverty of relationships as a result of the lack of solid family and community relationships. We are concerned by the various types of hardship, marginalisation, isolation and various forms of pathological dependencies which we see increasing. This kind of poverty can be overcome only through the rediscovery and valuing of fraternal relationships in the heart of families and communities, through the sharing of joys and sorrows, of the hardships and triumphs that are a part of human life…
“The grave financial and economic crises of the present time – which find their origin in the progressive distancing of man from God and from his neighbour, in the greedy pursuit of material goods on the one hand, and in the impoverishment of interpersonal and community relations on the other – have pushed man to seek satisfaction, happiness and security in consumption and earnings out of all proportion to the principles of a sound economy…
“Today’s crisis, even with its serious implications for people’s lives, can also provide us with a fruitful opportunity to rediscover the virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and strength. These virtues can help us to overcome difficult moments and to recover the fraternal bonds which join us one to another, with deep confidence that human beings need and are capable of something greater than maximising their individual interest. Above all, these virtues are necessary for building and preserving a society in accord with human dignity… Service is the soul of that fraternity that builds up peace…”
