It is a praiseworthy endeavor to strive for unity in our world, but not always easy to accomplish. Unity requires cooperation on both sides and this can be a long and arduous task.
St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians lays out a simple, yet profound formula for unity. He describes what is required for unity to be preserved and how to go about maintaining it.
I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)
His words of advice are quite simple, but very difficult to accomplish!
It means that we have to humble ourselves before another and treat others with gentleness, patience and love. Too often we don’t have one of these key ingredients and each time we let ourselves slip, it threatens that unity.
Above all, we must attach ourselves to Christ and let God unite us together in a bond that nothing can break.
Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love…be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. (Ephesians 4:15-16, 23)
If we can follow St. Paul’s formula, we will be much closer to unity than we could ever be on our own.
Read more:
St. John XXIII urged a “crusade of prayer” for Church unity
Read more:
How Jesus is the model of all peacemakers
And today we celebrate...