As I and my wife attended one of the masses at St. Francis Church in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, at the end of the celebration, I took one of the leaflets in the church and when I read the write ups, I was struck with one of the articles there. As a gist, the article talked about the gathering which included Pope Francis as he was embraced by Rabbi Abraham Akorka and a Muslim leader Omar Abboud, President of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue in Buenos Aires.
The accompanying photo of the three signified a unity amidst their diversity since all three of them represented a certain group in the church. In my own reflection, I said to myself that no matter how diverse our beliefs and cultures are but if we will only embrace each other as a unique individual made of both positive and negative characteristics and that no one is ever perfect then maybe, this world would be devoid of any atrocity and inhuman sceneries.
Moving further, I also asked myself if on what particular way could I be an instrument of peace to others and I thought of so many ways such as just being me and being welcoming to all regardless of one’s background or colour of skin to people known and unknown personally to me.
By allowing myself to be an instrument for peace then means that I am also spreading this good news that in our time, we are all challenged to be real brothers and sisters to one another.
Waking up each day and affirming our own uniqueness then turning to others and sharing with them a warm and a gentle smile thus a simple gesture as that could become a concrete manifestation of our sincere desire to connect with them.