Pope Francis, launched his new encyclical on Fraternity and Social Friendship on 3 October 2020.

Titled 'Fratelli tutti', it is inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi and is a proposal for a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel.

The letter is based on questions about fraternity and social friendship that have concerned the Pope in recent years. It is a call to love others as brothers and sisters, even when they are far from us; it is a call to open fraternity, to recognising and loving every person with a love without borders; it is a call to encounter others in a way that is capable of overcoming all distance and every temptation to engage in disputes, impositions, or submissions.

At the heart of the new encyclical’s appeal to Catholics is a meditation on Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan and particularly on how Jesus takes a legal scholar’s question, “Who is my neighbour,” and turns it into a lesson on being called not to identify one’s neighbours but to become a neighbour to all, especially those most in need of aid.

Pope Francis said, “The parable eloquently presents the basic decision we need to make in order to rebuild our wounded world. In the face of so much pain and suffering, our only course is to imitate the Good Samaritan, any other decision would make us either one of the robbers or one of those who walked by without showing compassion for the sufferings of the man on the roadside.”

Let our life with each other at St Brigid's be inspired by this encyclical. May it give us inspiration to focus on our local needs, our daily reality and to build a culture of peace at every level.

 

A Prayer to the Creator

Lord, Father of our human family,
you created all human beings equal in dignity:
pour forth into our hearts a fraternal spirit and

inspire in us a dream of renewed encounter,

dialogue, justice and peace.

 

Move us to create healthier societies
and a more dignified world,

a world without hunger, poverty, violence and war.

 

May our hearts be open
to all the peoples and nations of the earth.
May we recognise the goodness and beauty
that you have sown in each of us,
and thus forge bonds of unity, common projects,
and shared dreams. Amen.