Reverence for every human life should be innate, the position we assume as people created in God’s image—for our own sakes and for the sake of the world. Respect for all things, living and non-living, is found in all religious traditions as a fundamental human attribute.
In the spirit of Saint Francis, his namesake Pope Francis shows us again and again what it means to have reverence for one another, for the earth, and for the ten thousand things that are part of our everyday lives. “See the faces,” Pope Francis reminds us as he avoids power and pomp to spend time with the hungry, the poor, the outcast. Then using his power, he exhorts us to welcome the refugees, show mercy to one another, make places at our own tables for those without tables, and actively engage in caring for the world God has given us.
This message was adapted from Let us Pray: Reverence as Prayer by Julie Aageson in the March 2016 issue of Gather magazine.