“Faith gives us the promise of peace and makes known the demands of love.” And what love demands is service: “The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest.” The problem is that selfishness blurs the vision of faith, and so we break faith with each other, thereby violating the covenant of our fathers.

We people of religion are all too often like the Pharisees, laying heavy loads on other people’s shoulders without lifting a finger to budge them ourselves.

Instead of judging the poor, we should be serving them through our efforts on behalf of economic justice. Instead of criticizing those of other races, we should be serving them through our efforts on behalf of racial justice. Instead of ignoring the homeless, we should be serving them through our efforts on behalf of adequate housing for all.

   “May we live the faith we profess.” Our faith tells us that we are all brothers and sisters: “Have we not all the one Father?”

The way to live this faith is to build a human community of love and justice, and the first step in doing this is the acknowledgment of our failings and the offering of a pure sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

God’s word proclaims the oneness of the human family—from the first words of Genesis, to the ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ of the Book of Revelation. God’s word in Genesis announces that all men and women are created in God’s image; not just some races and racial types, but all bear the imprint of the Creator and are enlivened by the breath of his one Spirit

U.S. Bishops, Brothers and Sisters to Us, 1979: 25