Here is the text of the homily I prepared for the gathering of the Christian community this weekend, the last of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Toward unity
For more than a century,
Christian believers have joined our voices in prayer for at least one week
every year, imploring the gift of unity, especially among those of our brothers
and sisters who are divided. Like every
human story, the story of our Church contains episodes of joy and sorrow. At one point in our history, all those who
profess to be followers of Jesus gathered around one table; we all prayed
together; we all shared common beliefs and practices, but the sad reality is
that today we do not, yet we long for the day when we might once more stand
side by side to join our voices in a common song of praise. Until that day arrives, we must continue our
efforts to encourage dialogue, to recognize the gifts we share in common and to
work toward overcoming the differences that separate Roman Catholics from
Anglicans, Baptists from Lutherans, and Presbyterians from the members of the
United Church of Canada.
Today’s gospel passage
recounts the calling of the disciples.
When he called Peter, Andrew, James and John and said to them: Come, follow me … Jesus was inviting
them to see the world through different eyes.
He was inviting them to learn from him.
In time, they would come to know Jesus not as some stranger who happened
to meet them on the shore of the sea after a long night of fishing, but rather as
a trusted friend who would show them a different way of life. Jesus still calls disciples today to follow
him, sometimes as priests, sometimes as deacons, sometimes as consecrated persons, sometimes as
committed people of faith. In all these
cases, he encourages us to discover a world which is built not on power and
prestige but on love and service, a world where war and conflict give way to
the possibility of strangers coming to see one another as brothers and
sisters. When Jesus called those first
disciples, I wonder whether he was concerned about whether they would truly
grasp the concept of this new way of living, yet he did call them, and he
continues to call others today. The
problem is that humans often let our own egos get in the way, we choose to
follow our own desire for greatness, often measured by worldly standards, and over
time, Jesus’ vision of unity for all his disciples has suffered because of it.
Even in the years immediately
following the death of Jesus, Saint Paul recognized that the people of Corinth
were involved in disputes over their allegiances and beliefs. Some of them believed that Paul had all the
answers, but others preferred to follow Apollos, or Cephas (that’s Peter), or
Christ – as though each of these was proclaiming his own truth, a truth that
was different from the others. Paul
challenged them by asking: Has Christ
been divided? , The gospel that is proclaimed by the followers of Jesus has
always been the same. It is Christ’s
truth, no matter whether it is spoken by one or another of the disciples, by
one or another of his followers. In the
end, what is truly important is that we come to believe in the power of the
Cross, the power of forgiveness, the power of love. Then as now, there are moments when choices
motivated by love might appear to the human eye as foolishness, making no sense
by the judgment of the world, but to those who are acquainted with Christ,
choices made in faith demonstrate the power of God at work.
The good news is that when all
is said and done, it is God who is in charge, not us. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that at some point
in the future the people who walked in
darkness will see great light. In
fact, Isaiah says that we have already seen this light, and this should
encourage us greatly. Efforts at unity
between Christians are ongoing. During the General Audience this past Wednesday, Pope Francis reminded us: It is good to recognize the grace with
which God blesses us, and even more, to find in other Christians, something
that we need, something that we might receive as a gift from our brothers and
sisters. This year, the text of
the prayer service designed for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was
composed by a group of Christians from various faith traditions who all live in
Canada. As the Holy Father says, we need
to begin by recognizing the graces and gifts we receive from our brothers and
sisters. Then perhaps we will be better
able to focus on the things that unite us, the truths we share, like Baptism
and a belief in the person of Jesus.
From there, the dialogue will continue, and we will all learn how to be
better disciples, capable of following in the footsteps of Jesus.
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