THURSDAY MAY 16, 2024
THURSDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER B
Acts 22:30;23:6-11
John 17:20-26
MAINTAINING UNITY IN THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD
One of the great qualities of the the Church is her UNITY. The church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. And talking about the oneness of the Church, the catholic catechism upholds the “sacred mystery of the church’s unity“ and hold this very dearly because the source of this unity is found in the Trinity. And the Catholic catechism considers that “unity is of the essence of the Church.”
This unity is manifested in various ways and styles but especially, “in her profession of one faith received from the apostles; in her common celebration of divine worship especially of the sacraments; and Apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders, maintaining the fraternal concord of God’s family”
The gospel reading of today sees Jesus praying for a united Church. Jesus offers prayer that his church imitates the sacred unity of the Trinity. For the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is the root and foundation of the unity of the church. The church has no business with disunity for its founder, the Holy Trinity was never seen in that likeness. Rather the Holy Trinity is a unity in all ramifications, in nature, in purpose and in charity. So the Church must be One in the nature of “her soul”.
Jesus prays for all to be one not only now but even in the future. The value of oneness or unity cannot be overemphasized. Unity brings purposefulness, and it also brings development, allows for progress and keeps intact the same mind and concord. A united front can conquer all and succeed in all things.
In the first reading, Saint Paul exploited the disunity in the two groups of the Pharisees and the sadducees. While the Pharisees believe in the existence of spirit and the doctrine of resurrection, the Saducees on the other hand rejected both resurrection and even the existence of spirits. These created a lot of difficulties that Paul saw and used to create division among them which resulted in his being acquitted of the charges brought against him in the court.
In our lives, we must always work for unity of the church. What injures and wounds the unity of the church are classified as apostasy, schism and heresy. These are very serious crimes against the unity of the church. But all of them are sins that brings separation in the body of Christ. Apostasy is a revolt, or a defection or an abandonment of the teachings of the church, or having a different opinion apart from what the church teaches. We must be careful not to hold a different view or hold or teach something different from what the church believes, teaches and holds.
Heresy in the Catholic Church denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Church. When a person believes or acts or teaches something different and doubts or denies the real teachings of the church that person becomes a heretic and wounds the unity of the Church.
Schism is to separate oneself from the body of the church.
All these we must avoid by holding dearly the teachings, doctrines, disciplines and structures of the Church. There must be respect to the church’s hierarchical structure and this must be upheld. All these enable and foster the unity of the Church.
We must equally work for the unity of humanity, starting with our individual families. Family unity is necessary and important for the cooperate unity of all. Those elements or characters or virtues that foster unity like humility, charity and compassion must be employed at all cost to help build up unity.
As Christians the value of unity must be upheld in all we do. The vice of disunity must never be allowed to exist in our situation. We must be men and women who promote, advocate and work for unity in our society, in the church and in the world.
Heavenly Father, in the Holy Trinity is the source and symbol of unity. Grant that we may imitate the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and help in promoting oneness; a united church, a united family, a united work places and united world and humanity. Help us to always shun divisions and all forms of disunity that may breed problems in our lives through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
