Take a few minutes to reflect honestly on each question in dialogue with the Holy Spirit. There are no right answers, only invitations to reflect and practice daily conversion.
Pray
Before you begin, pray the “Adsumus Sancte Spiritus” prayer (the title is the first words of the Latin “We stand before You, Holy Spirit,”). This prayer was prayed before every session of the Second Vatican Council
We stand before You, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in Your name.
With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts;
Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.
We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.
Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.
Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life
and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.
All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time,
in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever. Amen.
Reflect
- When I encounter a fellow Catholic whose politics, theology, or priorities differ sharply from mine, what is my first instinct (e.g. skepticism, dismissal, suspicion, appreciation, curiosity)?
- Can I name two or three people I meaningfully disagree with and still consider genuine friends or conversation partners? What has sustained those relationships?
- When was the last time someone changed my mind, or complicated my thinking, on something I care about? What made me open to that?
- Do I regularly read, watch, or listen to sources that reflect perspectives I find difficult or incorrect? When I do, am I able to stay curious (and charitable), or do I find myself dismissing them or building a case against them?
- Do I pray for those I disagree with? If so, what do I actually pray for? Am I asking God to change them, or am I genuinely open to how God might be asking me to grow or take action?
- Thinking about the people I worship with. Are there people at Mass I quietly avoid, discount, or have placed in a separate category from myself? What would it mean to receive the Eucharist alongside them with a fuller communion of mind and heart?
- Is there a Catholic community, movement, or perspective I have largely written off? What would treating those people as my Catholic brothers and sisters actually require of me?
- When I think about the people on the “other side” of a division that matters to me, do I think of those I disagree with as brothers and sisters? Can I understand and appreciate why they believe or act the way they do?
- What is one specific thing I have done in the past year to build understanding or relationship across a real line of difference? What could I do this week to build a bridge?
- If someone who disagreed with me substantially were asked to describe our relationship, would they say they felt genuinely respected and heard? What is my honest answer based on?
Act
Prayer leads to action.
Following this time of reflection, what is one concrete step you feel God inviting you to take? This might be a conversation to initiate, a source to read, a person to pray for by name, or a community to approach with fresh eyes.
Closing Prayer: Come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
