Without fraternity, liberty and equality fail

The world has spoken of and lived with the motto, Liberté, égalité, fraternité, for some 233 years now, originating in the French Revolution and spreading out across the globe. They are words quoted in the constitutions of many countries, and are the foundational pillars of many societies. Liberty, equality and fraternity have seeped deep into popular culture.

Only two of them, however – liberty and equality – seem to have been absorbed – together or individually – into the social policy agendas of political parties around the world, including here in Australia, and especially in our State of Victoria. Often missing is fraternity.

Fraternity is tragically missing right now in the invasion by Russian military into the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Words of freedom for ethnic Russians and equality of spiritual heritage have been used by the Russian President to justify this act of war. But no word of fraternity among peoples has been spoken. Rather, war is being waged on the basis of asserting one national identity that sees and separates itself from another’s.

Pope Francis – in his important letter of 2020, Fratelli Tutti – said that there cannot be liberty and equality unless first there is fraternity between people and across societies. He uses a particularly important phrase to describe the kind of fraternity that fostered human flourishing; true fraternity is based on social friendship, a love that is capable of transcending social and national borders. (FT, §99)

Pope Francis says:

Social friendship and universal fraternity necessarily call for an acknowledgement of the worth of every human person, always and everywhere. If each individual is of such great worth, it must be stated clearly and firmly that “the mere fact that some people are born in places with fewer resources or less development does not justify the fact that they are living with less dignity”. This is a basic principle of social life that tends to be ignored in a variety of ways by those who sense that it does not fit into their worldview or serve their purposes. (FT, §106)

Jesus stood before the people – his disciples – telling them that what flows from a person’s words reveals what is in their heart. If fraternity cannot flow from our words – if our actions fail to emerge from a source of social friendship – it is because it is not there in our hearts. Without fraternity, liberty and equality fail, for if fraternity does not lie within the hearts of each of us, then what we seek to provide to others will rot on the vine of our words.

What can we do at this moment of great risk and tragedy? All of us can pray for a swift end to this emerging conflict, for the conversion of hearts, especially for national leaders. We can also work in our own back yard for building peaceful actions of justice and reconciliation.

I will pray with you today the 2^nd Eucharist Prayer for reconciliation. In part it says:

For though the human race is divided by dissension and discord, yet we know that by testing us you change our hearts to prepare them for reconciliation. Even more, by your Spirit you move human hearts that enemies may speak to each other again, adversaries may join hands, and peoples seek to meet together.

May the God of peace enter the hearts of those who are intent on war, and may the Queen of Peace intercede with her Son, the Prince of Peace, for the sake of the peoples of Ukraine, here and in their homeland.

Feature image: Hands Across the Divide (sculpture) by Maurice Harron