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ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD
What’s it like to be an astronaut and view the earth from space? Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 14, and was the sixth person to walk on the moon. He reflects upon his experience: “You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a b*****.’
A little salty perhaps but, oh, so true. In the 300, 000 years of human history nothing has affected every citizen of this planet like the Corona virus. If we had any doubts about all of us being in this global enterprise together, the pandemic has dispelled those doubts.
As Christians we have always embraced John 3:16: “God so loved THE WORLD that he gave his only son.”
It is the whole world, every single human being that God so loves. That Italian grandmother dying of the virus, God so loves. That homeless woman having slept in a shelter last night, God so loves. That father of four having lost his job two weeks ago, God so loves. Men, women, boys and girls, people of every race and clime God so loves.
As the song we sang in Sunday School puts it:
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow black and white
They are precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_xdkk_sXgA
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A PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS:
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace. Amen.