(Posted July 2013)

Today we come together in a special way to celebrate our global family.  As we reflect on International Human Solidarity Day, we think about what it means to work together as a human family in order to bring about change.

Individually, we work through prayer or action to bring about the positive changes necessary for justice and peace. As individuals, our work is good.  However, when we stand together as a global community, our work becomes more powerful and more effective. Through our integral human relationships, we are able to reflect God's love as we work with each other to heal the ailments of the world.

As part of a global community of caregivers, and in solidarity with others in Catholic health care, Catholic ministry and our partners across the globe, let us pray together:

Gracious God, today we ask for your help in uniting our global family.  As the creator of all human life, we thank you for the ability to enter into loving relationships. As social beings, we look to imitate your love for all individuals, and we recognize that there are times when we do not stand together as one human family. Help us to see that we are stronger together than we are as individuals. Help us to develop loving relationships that allow us to stand as one human family. Help us to answer the call to global solidarity by looking past our differences and realizing our common goals, be it through prayer or action.

Please guide us with your love.

Amen.

"The development of all peoples demands, above all, on a recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side-by-side."

 

— Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 53

Related information:

http://old.usccb.org/sdwp/international/globalsolidarity.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/events/humansolidarityday/background.shtml