Word to the Wise
Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 8:23b-9:3; 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17; Matt 4:12-23 or 4:12-17]I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. [1 Corinthians]
At the present time, the church in the U.S.A. is celebrating what has been traditionally called "the Church Unity Octave" but now Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The inauguration of the new president of our country plus the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade supreme court decision can drown out any meditation about church unity. (Lord knows, both those events are the subject of much division as it is!) Nevertheless, the goal of Christian unity remains one of the principal aims of the church. The optimism in this regard that arose immediately after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) proved to be premature. Progress has been made on a number of fronts, but hundreds of years of division are not overcome in a single generation. These divisions are not just Protestant/Catholic but Catholic/Orthodox. And even in our own Roman Catholic church there are those who say: "I am for St. John Paul II; "I am for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI"; "I am for Pope Francis!" When one prays for Christian Unity, it does seem like one is praying for the spiritual equivalent of "herding cats."
I grew up in a family that was part Catholic and part Protestant. My father had five Protestant half-sisters. My mother was raised Presbyterian and did not become a Catholic until I was 13 years old. One of the dangers to any efforts to bring about Christian Unity is that we become accustomed to the division and give up. The increasing "privatizing" of religious faith makes for another obstacle. However, we cannot ignore Jesus' own prayer that we all be one in him. [John 17:22] Little efforts within individual congregations all over the land can have results if we make the effort. In the meantime, I hope this Sunday, at least, that we respond to Jesus' and Paul's plea to pray for unity and be united "in the same mind and in the same purpose." AMEN
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