Catholic Identity 

Love Is the Protagonist -

Brian and Gareth Higgins write:

Jesus came to subvert all stories of violence and harm, not repeat them.

Instead of patriarchal stories of domination, 

Jesus taught and embodied service, reconciliation, and self-giving.

Instead of stories of violent revolution or revenge on the one hand or compliant submission on the other, 

Jesus taught and modelled transformative nonviolent resistance.

Instead of the purification stories of scapegoating or ethnic cleansing,

Jesus encountered and engaged the other with respect, welcome, neighbourliness, and mutuality.

Instead of inhabiting a competitive story of accumulation, 

Jesus advocated stewardship, generosity, sharing, and a vision of abundance for all.

Instead of advocating escapist stories of isolation, 

Jesus sent his followers into the world to be agents of positive change, like salt, light, and yeast.

And instead of leaving the oppressed in stories of victimisation, 

Jesus empowered them with a vision of faith, hope, and love that could change the world. [1]

[1] Brian D. McLaren and Gareth Higgins, The Seventh Story: Us, Them, & the End of Violence (Porch: 2018), 79.  [2] Ibid., 38, 40–42.   [3] Ibid., 80–81

Prayer

Jesus, our light and guide: 

Show us how to serve, reconcile and give to others;

Teach us how to transform evil in a non-violent way;

May we encounter and engage all we meet with respect, welcome, and to aim for win-wins’

Guide us to work for justice, to share, to be generous, to ‘be more’ not have more;

Light our way so we can become agents of positive change - be like salt, light, yeast; 

Empower us with a vision of faith, trust and love, so that we might change our world!

Amen