Jesus Demands Unity Even In Diversity

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐓. 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄, 𝐁𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲𝐫

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟐𝟐:𝟑𝟎; 𝟐𝟑:𝟔-𝟏𝟏

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟔:𝟏-𝟐, 𝟓, 𝟕-𝟏𝟏 “𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞, 𝐎 𝐆𝐨𝐝; 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟕:𝟐𝟎-𝟐𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆” (𝒗.23) 

         Christian Catholics practice their faith in so many ways. Some go to church almost every day, three times a week or at least making sure to attend Sunday mass. These are perfectly alright. Some are devotional or those with personal devotion to the Nazareno, Holy Face, Sacred Heart, Mama Mary and or to one of the Saints they may have found comfort and solace. Again, there is nothing wrong with these practices for as long as the end goal is to bring them and or us closer to God.

         I’m sure many of you have also stepped into a Church earlier than the Mass schedule and you find someone leading a group in prayer. And you sit in the pew not knowing whether to pray by yourself or join in with the prayer of the group you stumbled into. Most of the time, these “manangs” in church are holding onto several prayer books and they are led to pray their favorite prayers and sometimes you wait for them to say Amen with great expectation because you don’t know when they will end.

         Speaking of prayers, this prayer of Jesus as we come to the end of Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel is one prayer that I would like everyone to copy from your Bible, have it printed and bring it along with you and go over it when you are meditating and or whenever you feel depressed or down and no one to turn to.

         This prayer of Jesus is so uplifting as it shows the kind of love Our Lord has for us. This prayer shows not just the depth of his love for us and his fervent desire that we be united with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit but what is so moving was the part when he prayed that we remain under the constant protection and care of God.

         This is relatively important because for us to really get into a relationship with God, it would do us a lot of good to know that Jesus had nothing in his heart but compassion and his deep concern for our welfare and interest even during the time when he was just hours away from being betrayed.

         At the core of this prayer of Jesus is his desire that we be united with God and such unity can only be forged if we enter into a relationship with God through Christ, a relationship that is founded on our complete submission of our human will to the Will of God.

         In like manner, for us to become one with God we must become one with Christ which means that we have to restructure both our temporal and spiritual nature with the character of Christ. As disciples we must position ourselves to that of a learner who never tires of learning.

          Remember what Jesus said in 𝑱𝒏 16:13 “𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆.” In an apparent reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives Jesus is telling us that new things will be revealed to us in the days to come which means that we need to be aware of the movement and prompting of the Holy Spirit who is going to teach us these new revelations.

         It only goes to show that for anyone who will embrace a life of discipleship we should not stop learning and for us to become a witness to the ends of the earth (𝑨𝒄 1:8) we need to enter in, develop and nurture a genuine relationship with God through Christ for how else can we proclaim the Gospel of Christ to others if we don’t know anything about him.

         To know Christ is to walk with him, listen to him through the Sacred Scriptures and from what he says which can be passed on to us through other mediums and, to obey everything that he tells us. This means that we need to put our entire trust and confidence in Him because it is only in doing so that we can find our way to eternity because Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

         What stands out in this Gospel was the great desire of Jesus for his disciples to become one and this should also serve as a clarion call for the lay faithful of the Catholic Church and members of all Charismatic Communities to unite not only among themselves but with God through Christ because this is the only way we can become powerful witnesses to the reality of God’s love.

         And this is the question we need to ask ourselves. Are we also praying for the unity of all Christian believers since love and unity is the distinctive mark of those who follow Jesus who is pleased when we dwell in unity. As the Psalmist says: “𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚.” (𝑷𝒔𝒂 133:1)            

        Thus, it is sad when we see disciples who cause disunity causing congregations to break up and scatter instead of keeping them as one flock. Differences of opinion in the way a community, district, ministry or apostolate should be governed should not get in the way of what is primordial which is to establish God’s Kingdom in the hearts of men.

         Conflicts and arguments will always be present even in a spiritual community. Didn’t the mother of James and John almost caused disunity among the disciples when she asked Jesus to allow her sons to sit on his right and left? (𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 20:21, 𝑴𝒌 10:37)         It is worst when leaders who should sow unity and harmony become the cause of disunity, and we see this everywhere. Worst even is when we ignore our duty to promote unity because we are beholden to those who are involved. And this often happens when we look at the vineyard as owners and not as workers.  

         In the final analysis, relationships and even the flow of authority in a community break down when there is no submission to the kingship of Christ that is rooted in humility and obedience. This often happens when men especially leaders haven’t and couldn’t get their human nature to be nailed to the cross and allow Christ to resurrect in their lives. And this happens when we merely pay lip service to confessing Jesus is Lord.

         This prayer of Jesus is a continuation of his prayer at the Last Supper which concluded with a petition for Christian unity among all who profess Jesus Christ as Lord. Jesus prays for all men and women who will come after him and follow him as his disciples. In a special way, Jesus was praying that we as members of his body the church would be one as he and his Father are one.

         The unity of Jesus and his Father is a unity that is forged in love and perfect obedience and a unity that is engraved in personal relationship. We should not forget that Jesus loved us first and united us with him in baptism and thus we are called to live in unity with him in love. This prayer of Jesus on the eve of his sacrifice shows the great love and trust he has in his beloved disciples.

         He knows that his disciples would abandon him, yet he still entrusted them with the great task of spreading his name throughout the world. The Lord entrusts us with the same mission – to make him known and loved by all. Jesus died and rose again that all might be one as he and the Father are one. This is our call. How we will respond depends on how much we know him and how much we love him. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 5, 2025)