Our president has some tough negotiations on his plate: Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Far East, to name but a few.
This calls to mind a story about a ship captain. At sea in a fog, he saw what looked like the lights of another ship. He had his signalman blink: “Change your course 10 degrees south.”
A reply came: “Change your course 10 degrees north.”
The captain answered: “I’m a captain. Change your course south.”
The reply was: “I am a seaman. Change your course north.”
The infuriated captain signaled: “Change your course. I’m on a battleship!”
The reply came: “Change your course. I’m in a lighthouse.”
Yes, it pays to consider facts, to negotiate in order to move forward.
It is also Catholic Schools Week. Let's applaud our St. Raphael teachers and staff who educate youngsters for life, pursuing excellence in academics and instilling virtue in character. Thank you.
The word of God takes us to the fifth century before Jesus. The Jews were rebuilding their lives, much like many Europeans after World War II. Ezra gathered the Jews together in a liturgical assembly to renew the covenant God had made with them centuries before, summed up in a moving phrase: “You are my people; and I am your God.” The people cried out, “Amen. Amen” -- So be it. They will not only be hearers of God’s word but doers of that word.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece, addressed all kinds of emerging tensions. He used the metaphor of the human body to describe how different parts have different functions, yet all work for the good of the whole body. Paul championed unity within diversity. We are one family, the mystical Body of Christ. God abides in us, and we abide in God within a grace-filled community.
How appropriate, as we conclude this week of prayer for Christian unity (January 18-25), that we pray like Paul that the Spirit will make all Christians one. We all profess there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism despite different and contradictory traditions.
In the Gospel, Jesus went back to his hometown of Nazareth in the region of Galilee, and walked into the local synagogue on the Sabbath, and from the parchment of scripture—the book of Isaiah in particular—he read from the magnificent passage about the jubilee year: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … he has sent me to bring glad tidings ….” In conclusion, Jesus rolled up the scroll and said, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” This was a bold statement. In a real sense, this was the “inaugural speech” of Jesus.
He then set about bringing God’s love and justice, freedom, healing, and purpose to those who had lost meaning. Yes, Jesus challenges all to seek first the kingdom of God.
Jesus prayed that his disciples “may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you.” That's why we pray for Christian unity. We are a divided Christianity. A few years ago we marked the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's clarion call for reform in the Church. Luther initially argued for reform, not division. But his call spread like a contagion.
Now we have about 1.3 billion Catholics; 900 million Protestants in various traditions; and 300 million Orthodox. Until Pope John XXIII was elected in 1958, Christians generally emphasized what divided them.
Good Pope John XXIII moved Christians from diatribe to dialog. He realized that before people can discuss what divides them, they have to get to know one another. The 1964 “Decree on Ecumenism” encourages conversations with our separated brothers and sisters about what unites us and how we can cooperate, especially in humanitarian projects. I explored this in my book titled Christian Unity, available through amazon.
Catholics are linked with mainstream Christian churches in many ways: a common creed, baptism, the Bible and many justice and peace issues. And so, we pray that we might all be one: open to conversations with other traditions and at the same time faithful to our own Catholic tradition. We Catholics are a worldwide community of believers that celebrates the living Christ in all his fulness in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
We are a community that sponsors and staffs shelters, hospices, soup kitchens, literacy programs, day-care centers, hospitals, schools throughout the world. We have splendid heroes and heroines throughout the centuries.
Alas we also experience tensions. Why? Because we are human, saints as well as sinners. Remember what Jesus said to would-be judges in the Gospel according to John? “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
As we pray for Christian unity, let us thank God for the faith community to which we belong: calling us to a life with God here and now, and to an indescribable heavenly life where we shall be like God, and see God as God really is. Amen.
