Plenary, 23 Feb 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Official Report 446KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our first item of business, as it is every Wednesday, is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is Miss Irene Jovaras, the joint co-ordinator of the Focolare Movement in Scotland.

Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to be here with you this afternoon.

My parents were "aliens", or at least that is what their identity cards said. They came to Scotland as DPs, or displaced persons, in the 1940s as they fled from Lithuania to escape Russian occupation. We grew up with a deep sense of gratitude to the Scottish people, and for simply having food on the table and a roof over our heads. My father often reminded us, when we were tempted to complain about something, how lucky we were to live in a democracy: in a country where we were free to say without fear what we believed. That was a gift not to be wasted. We had to become responsible citizens and make a positive contribution to our new homeland. Sometimes I ask myself if I still appreciate enough what it means to live in a democracy.

As I reflect on the meaning of the word "democracy", the three principles of the French revolution come to my mind: liberty, equality and fraternity. If freedom alone is emphasised it can become the privilege of the strongest or of those who speak the loudest. If equality alone is emphasised it can result in a cold mass collectivism, where the creativity of the individual is suffocated. Surely it is only where there is the warmth of genuine fraternity that we find the true meaning and purpose of freedom and equality.

Economic imbalance, climate change and the growing diversity of our culture are just some of the challenges that I believe call us more than ever to the idea and practice of fraternity.

The words of Jesus—

"Father, may they all be one"—

have been a source of inspiration to Christians and others over the centuries. In revealing God as our Father, Jesus makes us all brothers and sisters, breaking down the walls which separate those who are the same from those who are different.

Mahatma Gandhi reminded us that

"The golden rule is to be friends with the world and to consider the whole human family as one".

Chiara Lubich, president of the worldwide Focolare Movement, spoke to parliamentarians in Westminster last June. As she outlined her work for dialogue between people of different faiths, cultures and backgrounds, she offered the art of loving, which consists of four simple guidelines that are key to dialogue. The first is to be the first to love others and to take the initiative in building relationships and in welcoming others. The second is to love everyone regardless of where they are coming from—even to love the people of other political parties as you love those in your own. [Laughter.] The third is to put ourselves in the shoes of others and to see things from their point of view, which might even be close to our own. Finally, when the going gets tough, it is a chance to make the obstacle a springboard and to be open to new ideas.

What is my wish and prayer for the politicians of Scotland? It is that you will find much energy, light and joy from the fraternity among you so that you can be truly yourselves and together continue to be a model for a new politics: a politics that is charity in action, and which is servant and not master of the common good.