In a video message, the president of the CEC and archbishop of Bogotá, Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio, invites people to recognize that “beyond our differences, we are all children of God and, therefore, brothers.”
God “is our peace” and “prayer leads us to meet him,” the cardinal said, expressing his conviction that “reconciliation is the path we need to travel to experience true hope for change in the country.”
“Let us pray for our country, that the Lord shows us with his Holy Spirit the paths of reconciliation,” the cardinal continued. “Reconciliation requires the ability to see the other as a brother. Jesus has told us: We are all children of the same Father.”
Rueda went on to cite Pope Francis, who “in a graphic way” has reminded us that “we are all in the same boat. The Colombian boat requires that you open your heart to reconciliation, to forgiveness. To look at the other, not as an enemy to be eliminated but as a friend, as a member of the same Colombian family.”
“That is what we want on May 3, for there to be a full day of prayer in parish churches, in the oratories of schools, universities, and women’s and men’s religious houses,” Rueda concluded.