The On-going Search For Christian Unity

Jesus prayed that "we all may be one."

In Sunday’s readings, we hear various titles ascribed to Jesus.

He is the “lamb” who saves us through his death and resurrection. He is the “son” who is one with the God of Israel.  He is the “Christ,” the long-expected messiah who inaugurates God’s kingdom of justice and freedom and truth and peace and love. He is the sovereign “Lord” to whom we pledge our ultimate allegiance.  He is the “servant,” the “light” who illumines answers to questions about life, e. g., what on earth am I here for..

John’s description stands out for me: “Behold, the lamb of God.” John pointed out that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb who would re-establish a right relationship for us with God and one another. In death, there will be eternal life.

The author of Isaiah takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus, to the Jews exiled in Babylonia. This passage is a poem, a song, about a “servant of God” who will bring hope to those who have lost hope in the future. This “servant” will save all peoples, be a “light” to all. The Christian community saw in this “servant” Jesus, whose vocation or calling was to be our way to eternal life, our truth who sets us free from false isms, our light who guides us in our earthly journey toward our heavenly dwelling place.

Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth, a seaport city in Greece, speaks about his own vocation as an apostle.  God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has bestowed his grace and peace upon us. Paul challenges us to live a life of virtue that’s worthy of our calling, to become a holy people.

In the Gospel, John points out Jesus as the Lamb of God, an allusion to the  Hebrew Passover meal and the sacrificial lamb in Jewish temple worship.  John then saw Jesus arise from the Jordan waters and the Spirit confirming Jesus as “Son of God.” This Jesus, truly human and truly divine, who through his death/resurrection by the power of the Spirit re-established our friendship with God again, is gloriously alive in his community of disciples, the one Church he founded, to continue his saving ministry until he comes again in power and glory to create a “new heaven and a new earth.”

Jesus prayed that this community would always be one.  Yet over the centuries it has divided into many communities: Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants: Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians etc.

And that is why we have a week of prayer for Christian Unity January 19-25. All Christians profess one Lord, one faith and one baptism. But they have split into different and sometimes opposing traditions.

As we pray with Jesus that “we all may be one,” we recognize that Jesus in today’s Gospel is the foundation of our world-wide faith community. And we ought to give thanks to God for this: a community that calls us to a life with God here and now, and to eternal life where we shall be like God and see God as God is.

Give Thanks to God for Newman's Life

Sketch of a Young St. John Henry Newman

Sunday's word of God takes us back in our imaginations to the ninth century before Jesus, to a man of God by the name of Elisha. And a foreigner, a Syrian army general, begs the prophet to heal him. To the general’s surprise, Elisha simply suggests that he bathe in the Jordan River. The Syrian does so, is cured, and this foreigner praises the God of Israel.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, speaks about the hardships he has endured. Paul invites us to give thanks for the gift of God’s life, bestowed upon us in the waters of baptism, nurtured in this liturgy, and ours forever in a transformed heavenly life.

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus heals ten people of leprosy. Only one, a foreigner, returns to give thanks to God.

Gratitude is a theme in today's word of God. I would like to highlight the grateful and faith-filled life of John Henry Newman, whom Pope Francis canonized in Rome today.

This nineteenth century Englishman spent the first half of his life as an Anglican (aka Episcopalian here) and the second half as a Roman Catholic. Newman influenced the so-called Oxford movement, an intellectual effort to return to the resources of our faith--the Bible, the sacraments, belief statements, authority in the Church and apostolic succession.

Newman's research eventually convinced him to join the Catholic Church. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest. Returning to England, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and then served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, which inspired his landmark book The Idea of a University. Newman wrote 40 books and 21,000 letters that survive.

The fullness of revelation, Newman emphasized, resides in the person of Jesus Christ. Belief statements try to capture, but never fully, the inexhaustible reality of the God-man. Hence, Christianity must develop over the centuries as we grow from childhood to adulthood. And there must be an authority on the truth or falsity of such developments.

Newman was a supporter of Christian unity at a time when Christianity was divided and religious bigotry commonplace.

In particular, he emphasized the active role of the laity: the “Spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful as in a temple.” Newman's writings prefigured the spirit of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The Church is always reform-able, holy yet made of sinners.

Revelation is a person. In other words, God reveals himself to us in Jesus and we describe this revelation in belief statements. The Eucharist is the font from which all the Church’s power flows. From this we go forth to love and serve.

I highlight two awesome prayers by John Henry Newman: the first about purpose in life:
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but...I shall do His work...Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever, wherever I am.… If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him...God knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”

The second prayer holds one of my favorite images of God: light. Newman’s poem “The Pillar of the Cloud,” written while he recovered from a severe illness, was made a hymn. Here is a very recognizable verse of the poem:
 “Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me...
So long Your power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on” into God's eternal light.
Amen!

Seeking Unity in Diversity

Praying for Unity within Diversity: January 18-25

Today we begin Catholic Schools Week.  And we salute our teachers/staff who educate our youngsters for life: excellence in academics and virtue in character.

The word of God takes us back to the fifth century before Jesus. The Jews who returned to the ruins of Jerusalem were rebuilding their lives, much like many of our ancestors did in the aftermath of the 1840s Irish potato famine, the 1870s German kulturkampf, or the two World Wars.

Ezra gathered people together to renew the covenant God had made with them centuries before—a covenant summed up in a moving phrase: “You are my people; and I am your God.” The people who heard Ezra cried out, “Amen. Amen” -- So be it. They will not only be hearers of God’s word but also doers of that word.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece, addressed many problems: squabbles, moral misconduct, personality conflicts, cliques. Paul’s metaphor of the human body describes how different parts—eye, ear, voice, hands, feet—have different functions, yet they all work for the good of the whole body.

Paul championed unity within diversity. We are one with God our Father. God abides in us, and we abide in God within a grace-filled community.

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus began his public ministry. He went back to his hometown and walked into the local synagogue on the Sabbath, and from the parchment of scripture—in particular, the book of the prophet Isaiah—he read from the magnificent passage:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … he has sent me to bring glad tidings ….”

Concluding, Jesus said, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” This was a bold and shocking statement. In a real sense, this was the “inaugural speech” of Jesus, proclaiming freedom from what enslaves us, vision from what blinds us, and healing from what breaks relationships.

Jesus then set about giving hope and purpose to those who had found little or no meaning in life.
And Jesus prayed that his disciples “may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you.”

In the week of prayer for Christian unity (January 18-25), we pray that the Spirit will make all of us one, for together we profess that there is only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther's call for reform spread like a divisive contagion. Until the 20th century, when Angelo Roncalli was elected Pope John XXIII, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants generally emphasized what divided them. Good Pope John XXIII realized that for people to discuss division, they have to get to know one another. He moved Christians from diatribe to dialog.

The 1964 “Decree on Ecumenism” encourages conversations about what unites us, what divides us, and how we can cooperate as a “united”people with common goals. That courageous task remains for us today.