Christ Unifies

In a contentious age, it is easy to have many differences. From our political parties being Republican or Democrat, our athletic affiliations being a Met fan or a Yankee fan, we argue a lot. There is no escaping our differences. We dare to say: “We agree to disagree.” There is no unity when we disagree. Unity was a concern even at the time of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of John (17:1-26) is generally known as the Farewell prayer, given that it is an intercession for the coming Church. Jesus prays for his disciples in the first century and for the future disciples after his death and resurrection. One feature of his prayer was unity among his followers.

“I’m praying not only for them, But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.”

We all have a common thread that we as Catholics are striving to love and serve the Lord. Christ says, “Pray for those who believe in me.” I ask one basic question. What do we believe? When we pray, do we listen to the words with our heart and soul? Our Catholic faith is based on the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission. In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread his teachings to all the nations of the world.

Christian history has shown us that unity was short lived. Catholic theology has been debated all throughout the centuries from Adoptionism, Arianism, Macedonians, and Gnostics to name of few heresies that would bring about confusions for centuries. Christ has a great desire of unity among us, his disciples, and that all may remain in the love, which unifies, because without love and without unity, we are nothing.

When Christ gave the Church the gift of unity, he made it an essential corner stone of his teachings. “That they may all be one.” This is a prayer of unity of believers. However, the devil likes to sow confusion in our lives. Satan works to divide us, but Christ works to unite us. Jesus Christ has all the greatness, he wants to give that greatness to us; we just have to strive for it. It is my prayer “that we may be one, being one with Christ.”

Holy Mother Church, pray for us.

Bernard of Clairvaux