For six days the world has witnessed an extraordinary display of ethics, values, joy, and love through the soul of Pope Francis that is unprecedented for most humans.
I was raised Catholic mostly through the efforts of my mother and supported by my late Presbyterian father. Admittedly, for the majority of my life I have struggled with my faith weakly placing one foot in the water and the other out.
Regardless of your religious denomination, it is likely that many of you at various times in your lives have experienced this as well.
What are the root causes of this struggle?
In simple terms, humans are all flawed in one way or another that contributes to weak moral compasses lacking strong ethics and values.
Pope Francis eloquently and passionately communicated this in his addresses, Masses, meetings, and interviews while millions around the globe watched. I was moved to tears watching His Holiness conducting Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York City and kissing infant children on his procession in Philadelphia.
What were some of his key points and how can they fit into our moral compasses that house our ethics and values?
Conduct our lives with grace and humility in the eyes of God. Make this is a pillar of your moral compass and your ethics and values will brightly shine.
Family is essential to our well-being and happiness. When families are broken, separated due to conflict, abusive, lacking respect for others and not striving for a loving environment, this is a recipe for disaster leading to future violence, criminal acts, and hatred for others.
Don’t be self-serving and ignore the needs of others. In addressing the U.S. Congress and the United Nations General Assembly the Pope emphatically asked world leaders to step up their game and quit ignoring the people they represent. In this spirit, we all in small ways can do the same on a daily basis letting our ethics and values lead us.
We are all accountable and responsible for our conduct. Humans were designed with flaws but also blessed with an amazing spirit to do good deeds and look out for one another. It is time to quit finger pointing and blaming others. Let’s correct the wrongs and strive to do our best each day using our moral compasses.
Our ethics and Christian values must contain respect, consideration, and courtesy to each other. Let’s not be judgemental; but rather commit ourselves to treating others with fairness, decency, and equality.
Our time is now and we cannot ignore plain facts about the condition of the human race. Violence, war, and deprivation of basic human rights cannot continue.
All of us can deploy our ethics and values via our moral compasses to make our planet better.
In the spirit of Pope Francis, I ask all of you to help me each day in your own way.
Our children are looking to us for leadership and to be role models.
We cannot let them down and waste our journeys that are blessed in immeasurable ways. As always, do your best each day. No one can expect any more or less of us.
Be well, peace, and many blessings, Mark
No comments yet.