Christ The Unifier: 7th Sunday of Easter

Today’s gospel from St. John the Divine is profound. As the discourse from the night of Jesus’ passions continues, we hear this beautiful prayer. It reads, “I pray not only for them,

but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that the one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you.” (John 17:20).

Newsflash: our society is divided. Politicians are bickering over petty differences and behaving at the level of high school turf wars. Meanwhile, every day Americans are struggling. They struggle to make ends meet as they live paycheck to paycheck. Even Americans themselves are not showing signs of unity themselves as they quarrel over who is better than the other.

The good news is we can rely on one person who can unite everyone. After all, we are a part of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic faith because it is rooted in Christ.  

St. Augustine puts it well, “By faithfulness, we are collected and wound up into unity within ourselves, whereas we had been scattered abroad in multiplicity.” 

If Catholics want to unite, they must rally behind Christ. It begins when we look at ourselves and clean up our act. We long to receive the sacraments. It takes faithfulness to help us unite others in Christ.

To quote a reflection from this month’s Magnificat subscription, “ Let us so live and love that the world around us can see and long for this unity into which we have been baptized and anointed with the oil of gladness.”

“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.” (John 17:11)