Thoughts on unity

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.