We need to see each other as God does
The arrival of the coronavirus has triggered and altered many facets of our lives that we have never experienced previously, and it has, in some cases, intensified our sensitivities and emotions to incredibly high levels.
The divisiveness that exists among people in our local community, our state, our country and our world is, unfortunately, nothing new.
It is said that we “live ourselves into new ways of thinking,” rather than “think ourselves into new ways of living.” This new way of living must begin with our approach to every single person as first and foremost an image of, and a child of, God.
For some reason, our brains are hardwired to think dualistically, meaning “I am right, you are wrong; I am white, you are black; my friends are the cool kids, that group over there are losers; I am a Democrat, you are a Republican,” etc. Taking this even further, we seem to identify ourselves (and, therefore, create roadblocks to healthy relationships) far more deeply with our skin color, gender, religion, economic level, political party and education experience, to name a few.
Speaking specifically about the Catholic culture that many of us happen to be a part of, we have defined ourselves for way too many years more with belonging to a certain ethnic parish community, rather than being Catholic itself. While it is good to preserve tradition and exude a healthy pride in our ethnic background, I still hear stories of young men who were forbidden to date young women because he was from the German parish and she was from the Italian parish. That is absolutely absurd, and that kind of attitude begins a relationship with a “no” instead of a “yes,” a negative instead of a positive.
By its very nature, this approach to other people sets us up for discord, division and even at times violent encounters that lead to despair and destruction.
While this positive approach to new ways of living is certainly difficult at times, the foundation is really quite simple.
We need to rewire our attitudes away from dualistic thinking, and see with the eyes of God.
“You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,” Jesus tells us.
Just listen to him, believe him and follow him.
The Rev. Kevin Fazio is administrator of Butler Area Catholic Parishes, which includes St. Andrew, St. Fidelis, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Paul and St. Peter churches.
