One, Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic Church
(III Sunday in Ordinary Time A, in the
Prayer Week for Christian Unity 2017)
Dear Sisters
and Brothers in Christ,
Saint Paul,
in the Second Reading of this Sunday Holy Mass taken from his First Letter to
the Corinthians, strongly reprimands those Christians who falsely side with one
church leader against another. A very
fervent disciple of Christ, Saint Paul knows the truth that in order to save a
humanity seriously broken because of sin, Jesus, the Son of God, had to shed
His Blood to the last drop. Jesus laid
down His own life on the cross to pay for all forms of evil caused by the
wrongdoings committed by the human race.
We do know
that from the beginning God created man and the universe all together in harmony
and unity as one family living in one happy home. When man failed to obey God’s commandment
that he should not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, he
was separated from God, the very source of life, truth and happiness. Men become wolves to men. Nature turns to be deadly enemy to men who
badly exploited it.
The Church
founded by Christ is supposed to be a convincing proof of victory of God’s
mercy and forgiveness over the forces of evil.
The most visible and essential sign of a new humanity saved by the
reconciling power of Christ is that peoples of different racial, cultural and
religious traditions are now gathered together in one big family of God’s
children.
Unity among
those who believe in Christ Jesus the Lord and Savior is really the strong
foundation for the building of such a new humanity.
Saint Paul
himself never gets tired in the fight against the dark side of this world that
reflects the true color of the devil.
Sometimes, the Prince of this sinful world is smart enough to deceive
people and drag them into committing bad things, such as killing innocent
children, depriving the poor of their legitimate rights to basic conditions for
a decent life, all those evil things they do in the name of God.
So, with his
strongest words, Saint Paul questions those sheep in disguise: “Is Christ
divided? Was Paul crucified for
you? Or were you baptized in the name of
Paul?”
We have the
reality analyzed by the Great Apostle of the difference between a life filled
with the Holy Spirit and a life polluted with personal and selfish
ambitions. We read this in his Letter to
the Galatians, Chapter 5, verses from 16 and so on:
“I say, then:
live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the
flesh. For the flesh has the desires
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each
other, so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of
selfishness, dissentions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I warned
you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of
God. In contrast, the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control. Against such
there is no law. Now those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow
the Spirit. Let us not be conceited,
provoking one another, envious of one another.”
Dear sisters
and Brothers,
The teaching
of the Great Apostle Paul is meant for me and for you to pray to the Lord to
forgive our sins for the times we have made the Church divided because of our
bad thoughts, words and actions. In this
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we must, you and I, pray to the Lord for
mercy and forgiveness. We continue our
prayer and actions to make the Church one again. This is the dream of our Lord before He went
to suffer. During the Last Supper He
asked God the Father: “Father, make them one as you and I are one.”[1]
When we are
one we are true disciples of Christ. No
reason for you and for me to be divided.
In particular, never will we be divided in the name of the One Who for
our unity laid down His own life on the Cross.
We pray hard
in this Holy Mass for Christian unity, for unity among peoples, for unity in
our respective countries. We also pray
for understanding and harmony among Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and other
professions. We need unity to survive
the forces of evil that seem now to be more active and dangerous than ever.
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
