Solidarity

Prayer for Solidarity

Almighty and ever-living God,
empower your one human
family to join hands
on our journey of faith.
Send us your spirit of hope,
so that we may work
to alleviate human suffering
and foster charity and justice
in our world.
Amen

Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

"SOLIDARITY"

"We are all one family in the world. Building a community that empowers everyone to attain their full potential through each of us respecting each other's dignity, rights and responsibilities makes the world a better place to live."

Attributed to Saint John Paul II

How do you seek to recognize and respond to the needs of another human person?

One of the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching is the principle of solidarity:

"We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.”1 The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict" ["Solidarity," USCCB].

St. John Paul II instructs

[Solidarity] is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all. [On Social Concern, no. 38]

Pope Francis teaches that the term “solidarity”

means much more than an occasional gesture of generosity. It means thinking and acting in terms of community. It means that the lives of all take priority over the appropriation of goods by a few. It also means fighting against the structural causes of poverty and inequality; of the lack of work, land and housing; and of the denial of social and labor rights. It means confronting the destructive effects of the empire of money: forced dislocation, painful emigration, human trafficking, drugs, war, violence and all those realities that many of you suffer and that we are all called upon to transform. Solidarity, under-stood in its deepest sense, is a way of making history,...[Address at World Meeting of Popular Movements, Oct. 28, 2014].

God’s solidarity with creation is best exemplified through the incarnation of Jesus the Christ, who taught us that our love of God is exemplified to the extent we love one another as God loves us (See; Mk 12:30-31; Jn 15:12; 1 Jn 4:20-21). Solidarity is especially expressed in the way we are open to, embrace, and respond in love to the least of our brothers and sisters, to the poor, the outcasts and the marginalized; for what we do for them we do for Christ (Mt. 25:37-40).

Every act of solidarity with one another in love is an act of solidarity with God, for we find and experience Christ in and through our mutual love for one another. This love is best expressed through our good works and actions for the common good, not just through our be-liefs and words (see Mt 21:28-32; James 2:14-26).

VIDEOS

"CST 101 - Solidarity"

"Solidarity -Standing Up Against Global Poverty"

"Solidarity" (Pax Christi)

"Solidarity - Walking Together" (Caritas, Australia)

"Solidarity — Catholic Social Teachings"

"Solidarity Through Sandwiches"

"Catholic Social Justice Teaching — Solidarity"

"The Difference Between Charity and Solidarity"

"Global Solidarity"

MUSIC

"One Bread One Body"

"I Surrender"

"We Are Called"

OTHER RESOURCES

Solidarity (USCCB)

"CST 101 - Solidarity" (Catholic Relief Services)

"Solidarity — Catholic Social Teachings (Slideshow)

"Solidarity" (Caritas, New Zealand)

"Catholic Social Throught and Solidarity" (Fred Kammer, SJ)

"Solidarity" (Jesuit Resource)

"Other Resources on Catholic Social Teaching"
REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE

How do you promote and live in solidarity with others for the common good, especially the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and the least of our sisters and brothers?
We encourage and invite you to  spend time to reflect, pray, and write in your journal about what you have read, seen, heard, or experienced this week. You can find some questions you may wish to consider here.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, in now, and ever shall be.
Amen.