“It is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace.”

Pope Francis, Wednesday audience, Sep 1, 2013

An invitation to work for “the culture of encounter”, in a simple way, “as Jesus did”: not just seeing, but looking; not just hearing, but listening; not just passing people by, but stopping with them; not just saying “what a shame, poor people!”, but allowing yourself to be moved with compassion; “and then to draw near, to touch and to say: ‘Do not weep’ and to give at least a drop of life”.…

This discourse also reaches out to the people of today, who are far too “accustomed to a culture of indifference” and who therefore need to “work and ask for the grace to build a culture of encounter, of this fruitful encounter, this encounter that returns to each person their dignity as children of God, the dignity of living”. We “are accustomed to this indifference”, the Pope said, whether it be “when we see the calamities of this world” or when faced with the “little things”. We limit ourselves to saying: “Oh, what a shame, poor people, they suffer so much”, and then we move on. Pope Francis explained that an encounter, however, is different: “If I do not look, — seeing is not enough, no: look — if I do not stop, if I do not look, if I do not touch, if I do not speak, I cannot create an encounter and I cannot help to create a culture of encounter”.

by L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 38, 23 September 2016

Below  are resources to help you explore the meaning of a Culture of Encounter and implement it in your own lives.