This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
Unity among Christians is not a sentimental warm fuzzy. It is a fruit of profound orientation to the welfare of neighbor, and determination to serve that welfare–on all levels, temporal and eternal–to the point of sacrifice.
When two or three persons, or a whole community, bear this attitude toward one another and share the same faith in Christ, we have Christian unity.
Jesus makes no bones about it in today’s gospel: Work for unity, or face negative consequences.
Likewise, in the first reading, St. Paul urges us to bear with one another with love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of piece.
Virtually the entire seventeenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel is dedicated to recount a prayer uttered by Jesus to the Father begging for unity among His followers, made more poignant by the fact of its utterance at the most intense moment of His life, just prior to His death.
Elsewhere, St. Paul talks about putting away the “old man” (our former way of being, before knowing Jesus and answering His call) and putting on the “new man” (the way of being characteristic of transformation in Christ) (cf. Eph. 4:22).
It is not about just “all getting along.” Rather, there is simply no characteristic more indicative of mature Christian transformation than the theological virtue of Charity, whereby the welfare of neighbor is truly as important to us as our own. It is a gift, not acquired as a habit through practice, and the sure path to receiving it is consistent time spent with Jesus in prayer and the sacraments.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Consider the Charity necessary for Jesus to leave paradise and become a little child, with the grim mission of dying for our sins. Consider that He wants for you that very same Charity in your heart. Ask Him to grant it to you, humbly acknowledging that you cannot acquire it by effort. Tell Him that you want to want what He wants for others, more than you want anything else.
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