The world in general and our country in particular have demonstrated, on several occasions, that, when we want, we can unite and quickly generate something fantastic that is intended to serve everyone.
A sign of this was the rapid creation of several vaccines to combat Covid-19, a creation that is the result of immense conjugation of efforts between various medical laboratories in different countries, located in the most diverse corners of our world.
For some, it can be a sign of danger; for others, a sign of hope. For me, it is a sign that, when Humanity wants to, it can overcome differences and wars and, joining efforts and synergies, be a whole much greater than the parts.
Said (in a meeting held by video conference, promoted by Capela do Rato, at the Patriarchate of Lisbon, on January 11th and whose theme was the encyclical of Pope Francis Brothers All) Cardinal D. Tolentino de Mendonça that “fraternity is not an automatism, an inevitability of our species, it is not simply listening to the archetype of our nature, it is an ethical construction, it is a decision”.
And it's true. We are brothers, according to the word that Jesus Christ and all the prophets left us before him, but we only live this fraternity as an act of our own free, conscious will. We don't live it as something that is born with us, like the color of our eyes or the size of our nose.
We have to build it individually and collectively and the existence of this (these) vaccine(s), which so many vicissitudes had to go through - with the hoarding attempts, the necessary authorizations to carry out tests, the long hours spent analyzing results, etc. , etc., etc. – is proof that the effort and commitment to create something that works for everyone and that is shared and improved in common result in the creation of that greater, universal good, of which the Church's social doctrine speaks so much. and that many have appropriated.
I believe in hope and therefore I believe in this vaccine. So much so that I've already been vaccinated, because I work with people at risk and I'm also part of this group.
I see in it a sign opposite to so many of the things that we have been following in recent days, namely in Portugal, with the presidential elections at the door, and in other countries, such as the USA, where the unthinkable attack on the Capitol has been witnessed and there are relatively hours of fear. to a possible internal conflict.
The path of radicals, of those who sow division and intensify disagreements, looking for all the answers in liberal or radical practices and exacerbating, as the Portuguese cardinal said, "logics of violence, xenophobia or contempt for other human beings", only they will win if we want, because everything is in our hands.
The vaccine is proof that, when there is a common project, developed to overcome a global crisis, we can rediscover the true nobility of human beings. When we are called to look at ourselves and we do it with truth, we envision a better future and start building it.
In May 2019, Pope Francis visited Bulgaria. On that occasion and in one of his homilies, he challenged that people to be encouraged "to create hope", sowing a "building site of hope", because "optimists are a man or a woman who creates the community of hope".
In this homily, the word hope it was the most pronounced and was echoed around the world. It also came to me and now, at this moment, more than ever, it makes sense to me.
If I want a better world, I have to start building it myself. I already started. I got the vaccine. And I challenge everyone else to put aside the mediocrity that lurks in the darkest side of human beings, so that, illuminated by that warm light that comes from the certainty that fraternity can be created, we embrace the challenge: #let's build hope .
And don't forget, because only on the moon is there no wind, here, on earth, anything is possible.
Author Father Miguel Neto is director of the Information and Pastoral Ministry of Tourism of the Diocese of Algarve, as well as parish priest of Tavira
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