The Abbey of the Genesee

If Jesus who is God didn’t manage to convert the Pharisees

and bring them into unity with himself and his disciples, how will

we achieve unity in our day when Christians have suffered so

many divisions and others keep arising?

The first thing we have to do is to refuse to despair, but

believe that all things are possible to God and that if we have

faith like the grain of a mustard seed we can say to the mountain

of disunity, “Be uprooted and cast into the sea,” and it will obey

us. This prayer with faith is pleasing to God. In fact Jesus prayed

for this at the Last Supper before his passion and death. He said,

“That they may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in

you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know

that you have sent me.”

What about the conflicts and disunity we see in our readings?

They show us how difficult it is to achieve unity when we and

the others are sinners and subject to the wounds of original sin

and the loss of unity among our faculties. But this must not

cause us to lose heart. David became king of Juda and managed

to achieve unity with the northern kingdom after armed conflict

with them. Jesus by his suffering and death won the salvation of

the whole world.

The Catholic Catechism lists a number of things we can do

to advance the cause of ecumenism. One of the most important

is to practice the faith by seeking to grow in holiness and purity

of heart. This will make our prayer and sacrifices more effective.

As St. James says, “The prayer of the just man is very powerful

and efficacious.” (Jm 5:16 AT) Add humility to that and your

prayer becomes all the more valuable for as we read in the Book

of Sirach, “The prayer of the humble penetrates the clouds.” (Sir

35:17 AT)

We are all like spokes on a wheel. Out at the rim there is a

considerable distance between the spokes but as you make your

way down the spokes you come closer to one another until you

arrive at the hub and are united. So also as we come closer to

God we draw nearer to our neighbor. We would do well to

imitate the zeal of our sister, Bl. Maria Gabriela, who offered her

life for the cause of Christian Unity which God accepted as a

sacrifice for she died a short time after her offering.