At Mass earlier today at Our Lady of Lourdes, I was privileged to proclaim today’s beautiful first reading from the Letter to the Ephesians. In that reading, Paul urges the Ephesians to “live in a manner worthy of the call” they have received. He goes on to spell out what that means: living
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.
In his homily, Fr. Dan Griffith stressed Paul’s call to unity; we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”
Unity does not mean lock-step agreement with each other on everything. The Church is a church of diverse people and our diversity is to be celebrated. Unity in diversity is an important part of a catholic identity. And that means that no small part of living in a manner worthy of our call is promoting unity.
We might each ask: Am I a force for unity or division? And in what ways might I better promote unity in diversity?
Creo en Dios! 