Our response to the world around us must be rooted in a renewal of our minds, seeing through superficial differences to recognize God’s presence and purpose in all persons and things.

And for all these great [early Church] figures, there were blindingly obvious practical implications – to treat each other with forgiveness and respect, to address poverty and suffering, and to step back from the institutions of the state, especially the army. None of this was fully encoded in rules, but the church expected people to be able to draw the obvious conclusions from the simple starting point of living under a new authority.

We too must learn to love beyond the boundaries of common interest and natural sympathy and, like God, love those who don’t seem to have anything in common with us.