How would we live if every believer: the employee, officer, employee or entrepreneur performs his duties best!
Friday, 25 October 2013, 16:13 I would like to offer you a column compiled on the basis of my speech during the VI Ecumenical Social Week.-
See also:
- ‘A PEACEFUL AND CONFIDENT VOICE’
- The Head of the UGCC in Chicago: "His Beatitude Lubomyr knew about the appointment of Bishop Venedykt, rejoiced and awaited this day"
- Archbishop of Krakow: “His Beatitude was a guide and master on pilgrimage journeys of John Paul II in Ukraine”
Ukrainian society is multi-religious. It consists mostly of people who believe in the Triune God, confess Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God, read Scripture. They consider themselves Christians, although divided into Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants and other churches and organizations.
In recent years in Ukraine it is much spoken about unity that should prevail among all the faiths and about ecumenism as the movement that would help all the Christians find their way to the original unity in Christ, the Lord.
However, it is done very little to bring this unity back to life. Most Christians believe reconciliation or rapprochement and integration be difficult almost impossible the task to carry out. Some people even say that it is a utopia.
Despite these thoughts, returning to the original unity is our duty. Although, no doubt it is a very difficult task to implement we must be prepared to do everything that depends on us (we know that some sincerely religious people did not hesitate even to die for it!). But first we must believe that Christian unity is possible, because it is God's commandment - "that all must be one ."
And we must fulfill this commandment. Of course, we cannot do without God’s blessing, which acts through the people in the human environment. Therefore, on the one hand, we must have unwavering faith in the Lord's help, and the other hand we should not hesitate to use human instruments.
In fact, one of such devices I want to offer dear readers. I will give two brief examples.
Imagine a village or town in which every house and every family follow the same customs. All the people in this village are treated similarly; children grow up in similar circumstances and treat with familiar people and strangers in the same way.
I’ve experienced it, for once being a little child, when my family temporarily was living in the village. I was going along afield path and met a senior man. I didn’t shake hands with him properly and he began to reproach me. I was very scared, because if he told my father about my behavior, I would be severely punished. Because my father and this strange man considered that it goes without saying that younger people must always greet older people.
My family lived in a city where most of the population belonged to the same church and was of the same national origin. At our home our family and friends were very much similar: the same religious or folk customs, similar attitudes towards people, social and political views. I can say that we always feel at home everywhere.
In both cases that I described on the basis of my own experience , the children were brought up not only by our parents or close relatives , but also by the entire village or city, the environment in which we live , for all the inhabitants cultivate or maintain the same social values . The whole society has become a school of life.
We have now the question: what forms such an environment? I'll try to explain it on one example from my own experience.
I lived in a small religious community in the urban village near Lviv. Once we had to fix a car and we asked our neighbors where it is best to do. Neighbors recommended a service station in a neighboring village almost in one voice. Their advice they explained this way: “An excellent mechanic, who is a true Christian, is working there."
I went to this address and left the car there. After a while I returned to pick it up. Having paid for the service, I said to the mechanic: "I came to you because I was told that you are very good at repairing cars." I heard an interesting answer: "I am a believer, a Christian; I try to do my job as good as I can and know."
Think , dear listeners : if in towns and villages where we live , each employee, officer , businessman , worker , in short, anyone who performs some service for the residents of the area , could say the same about himself, would not that be good ? And is it possible? I am sure it is.
In my opinion, the first step towards convergence of Christians is that every believer citizen, regardless of denominational affiliation, will do his best living and acting according to Christian principles, which were given us by our Savior Jesus Christ, who we believe in.
We belong to various churches and religious organizations of different faiths and it will probably take a lot of time to overcome all the differences. But today we can live according to the rules that gave us our Heavenly Master, we can all behave as his sincere disciples, who were already called Christians in the I century (see Di.11 , 26).
This way we would very clearly emphasized that brings us to today. After this first step it would be much easier to think and do the following ones.
+ Lubomyr
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