1. Editorial Lal Varghese, Esq. Page

“For You have formed my inward parts; You have created me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:13-14). God created human beings fearfully and wonderfully as individuals and together as families. Our primary responsibility is to fulfill the purpose of the Lord by loving each other, sharing and caring for the less fortunate and marginalized.

The great commission of Jesus to all of us is given in Mathew 28: 16-20: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This is a great responsibility given to all faithful believers, which they need do together as a faithful community.

This is a daunting task and a lifelong commitment to be done by all in it together. Not only is Jesus responsible for creating all things, He is the reason all things continue to exist. He is the constant sustaining power in our lives. He’s not only holding the universe together, but also holding us together. We need to travel the less treaded roads and need to visit the less frequented Samaritan wells with this love for our neighbors. ‘We are all in it together ’is the mission entrusted to us by the Lord and we need to continue the same for His glory.

St. Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others” (Phil 2:3-4). Paul not only instructs the faithful believers in the book of Philippians not to do anything with selfish ambition or conceit, but considering the other greater than us and for the interest of the other. So, ‘we are all in together ’points to the very fact what Paul is instructing the faithful believers. When selfishness dominates, togetherness and interest of others fails.

“Our shared human condition and values must be a source of unity and not for division. We must give people a hope and a vision of what the future can hold. The human rights system helps us to meet the challenges, opportunities and needs of the 21st century; to reconstruct relations between people and leaders; and to achieve the global stability, solidarity, pluralism and inclusion on which we all depend. It points to the ways in which we can transform hope into concrete action with real impact on people’s lives. It must never be a pretext for power or politics; it is above both” (U. N. COVID-19 and Human Rights, April 2020). The phrase ‘we are all in it together’ became a catchphrase after the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world sparing not even a single county. Unfortunately, other than making resolutions and programs, the U. N. had failed in its efforts to protecting human rights violations and peace in the world. The U. N., failed in its mandate to unite the nations to make an impression that ‘we are all in it together’.

Over the past two years, ‘we are all in this together’ has just become a slogan that we’ve seen in countless places and quoted by several people. It is a sign of global solidarity in the midst of remarkable turmoil, fear, and confusion. There is not a single person on earth who was untouched by this crisis, either directly or indirectly. And while the sentiment is powerful, we must acknowledge the weight of this crisis is not distributed equally. While we may all be in this together, we must discern what faithfulness looks like in our immediate context. In all of this we are reminded of the ancient wisdom of St. Benedict, who sought to create communities of faith in which “the strong have something to strive for and the weak have nothing to hide from.”

In this postmodern world, assertiveness and aggression are considered to be strengths, while humility connotes weakness. Russian invasion of Ukraine is an example of this assertiveness and aggression. On March 6, the day of forgiveness for Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill stoked the flames of hatred. He said there can’t be “forgiveness without justice.” Otherwise, it’s a capitulation and weakness. Being clothed with the humility of the Lord means seeing ourselves as the Father sees us and respecting others by loving them unconditionally. Jesus did far more for us by leaving the glories of heaven to become a human being and eventually dying on the cross for our sins. Out of gratitude for Him, we should treat one other with kindness, sensitivity, and compassion as a community of faithful believers.

Out of the 2 billion Christians in the world, about 1.3 billion Christians are Catholic, still Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Even though Russian Orthodox Church is a member of the WCC since 1961, it is supporting the Russian invasion and aggression against Ukraine. It may be noted that 78% of the population in Ukraine are also Orthodox Christians. WCC had failed in its mission in uniting the Christians around the world and also failed most recently in directly condemning the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but condemned only the use of ‘religious language to justify the war in Ukraine by the Russian Orthodox Church. WCC failed in uniting the denominations around the world and making them feel that ‘we are all in it together.’ Churches are meant to be communities called atonement. The 11th Assembly of the WCC in the German city of Karlsruhe from 31st of August 2022 to 8th September 2022 brought together delegates from member churches around the world, many Christian traditions and backgrounds. The overarching theme was “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”. It was a sincere effort to find a way through the divisions of not only the member churches of the WCC, but the planet and the whole humanity. Let us hope and pray that this will make a difference. “In