When I was living in D.C., I used to love running down the Metro Red Line trail to Capitol Hill and the National Mall. Sometimes I would cut in to run past the White House or extend that run down to the Lincoln Memorial. But one thing that always struck me was the view on the return of our Nation’s Capitol. Two weeks ago, it pained me to see it become ground zero for fear, violence, hate and the misappropriation of Christian symbolism.

A fortnight later, at Wednesday’s inauguration of the 46^th President of the United States, we saw a completely different view from our Nation’s Capitol, as Christian symbolism and imagery were invoked in an all-embracing call to unity and to treating each other—even those we disagree with—with dignity and respect. The day began with President Biden, accompanied by Republicans and Democrats, attending daily Mass at Saint Mathew the Apostle Church. In the early afternoon, the inauguration opened with an invocation by Father Leo J. O’Donovan, former president of Georgetown. And then the amazing Lady Gaga, who has often been vocal about her Catholic faith and spirituality, sang the National Anthem. Like Madeleine Albright in the nineties, she used her magnificent, oversized gold brooch of a dove with an olive branch to send a message to those who watched her: now is the time for peace. Later, in her poem, “The Hill We Climb” twenty-two-year-old Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman said: “In this truth, in this faith we trust, for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us…But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.”

In the final benediction, the Reverend Silvester Beaman proclaimed, twice, on behalf of us all that “we will make friends of our enemies,” that our country would be “a beacon of life and good will to the world,” and then prayed: “As such teach us O God to live in it, love in it, be healed in it and reconcile to one another in it.”

And in his inaugural speech, President Biden alluded to Saint Augustine’s City of God, the great saint’s magnum opus on Christian philosophy, saying: “Many centuries ago. Saint Augustine, a saint in my church, wrote that a people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love…What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and yes, the truth.”

What are our common objects of love? That is a question I increasingly ask myself when I'm at odds with someone, or the world. The answer never fails to change my perspective. Perhaps as we move forward and respond to the call to work for unity, justice, reconciliation and healing for our country and our world, we might ponder and pray on that question: What are the common objects we as Americans -- as people of faith -- love?