The Gift of Unity

Each time we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we hear the prayer addressed to Our Lord Jesus Christ that acknowledges His promise of peace, and then we ask Him, “…look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and grant us peace and unity in accordance with your will…” We, as members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, beg the Savior for the gift of unity. What is this gift of unity for which we pray at every Mass celebrated throughout the world?
 
In order to appreciate what this gift of unity is, we need to deepen our spiritual perception of unity. In an age of great division in politics, in academia, in the life of nations, in our culture, and even in the Church, we must understand that unity is not simply people becoming more and more alike in a superficial manner. This true unity that we seek cannot be achieved by coming together to arrive at consensus or only by an agreement among ourselves. No, this unity is a reality that comes from beyond us. It is not a matter of legality, nor of human wisdom. Unity is a gift that is the powerful working of grace from the hands of Christ.
 
We must realize that unity comes not from our own weak and inept attempts to win others over to our agendas. It comes, rather, from Christ to whom we must adhere and from the truth of the Faith that He entrusted to his Church.
 
We may imagine that division happens only in great circumstances, that it is very public and may result in condemnation or even excommunication. There are also other, less public ways in which the unity of the Church is attacked. These happen in dioceses, parishes, and among groups of people who are tasked with promoting the mission of the Church when people place their own power, ideas, or positions above the truth of Christ and the real mission of His Church.
 
This unity of the Church is not just an ideal or a philosophical concept. It is, rather, a participation in the life of the Lord Jesus as we encounter Him and are united with Him and with one another.
 
Where is this unity in Christ most fully accomplished? It happens when those who are baptized into Christ come to Mass and are united with His Eucharistic Sacrifice and  receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. We, as members of His Mystical Body the Church, are united to Him most profoundly and united to one another in charity when we are immersed in the Mysteries of His Passion, Death, and Resurrection at Mass. How fitting it is that while we pray for unity at Mass, it is precisely at Mass that this unity is affected!
 
Dear friends, we must live out of unity accomplished by the offering of Christ’s Body and Blood. We must recognize that the unity He offers us through the Holy Eucharist can be accepted or refused. Let us accept this unity of Christ and rejoice in this divine gift bestowed on us and the whole Church by the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist! Then let Him change our lives and our every relationship seeing that in Him we are bound together in love!
 
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh