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Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola Chestnut Hill MA
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
First Sunday of the Octave for Christian Unity
January 19, 2014
Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J.
“Oh, come, desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind; Oh, bid our sad divisions cease, and be yourself our King of Peace.”
These are lyrics from the familiar hymn O Come O Come Emmanuel, which we sang
over and over in Advent, as we prepared to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah,
Emmanuel, God-with-us. Once again, Christmas has come and gone, and I suggest
that we ask ourselves, “Have our sad divisions ceased?”
Think of the politics of our divided nation: Red or blue? Fox or MSNBC? Boehner or
Reid? Sarah or Hilary? Rush or Rachel?
Bid our sad divisions cease.
And in the Church: Conservative or liberal? High church or low church? Eastern or
western? Protestant or Catholic?
Bid our sad divisions cease.
Some of you perhaps read the reports about Cardinal O’Malley’s participation in an
ecumenical service last Sunday on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which
marked the 50th anniversary of Cardinal Cushing’s visit to a Methodist church in
Sudbury. In his homily, Cardinal O’Malley said, “"By baptism we are grafted on to
the body of Christ, we are part of the Lord, and connected to one another. Today we
are reminded that that connection joins us, Methodists and Catholics, in one Lord,
one faith, one baptism.” During the service, in a lovely and appropriate gesture,
people signed the cross with water on each other’s forehead as a reminder of
baptism. The Cardinal asked one of the Methodist ministers, who happened to be a
woman, to bless him. Someone took a picture, which created a buzz in the
blogosphere, prompting a series of horrible comments, among them: “What a
disgrace to our Holy Mother Church. Is there no limit to this man’s heresies?”
Bid our sad divisions cease.
Today we begin the Octave for Christian Unity, eight days of reflection, begun in
1908 and sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Council for
Promoting Christian Unity. This year the theme is the rhetorical question “Is Christ
Divided?” based on the first chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, the first
three lines of which we just heard. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth reminding
the Corinthians that, even with the differences among them and between them and
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other churches elsewhere, “…all who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, are called
to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, their Lord and ours.” Paul is passionate about unity. Later in this first
chapter, he wrote, ‘I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions
among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and purpose.”
During these eight days, let us join with Christians throughout the world to pray for
the unity among Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, Lutherans, Congregationalists, and
all of the churches of the reformation, all of which profess Jesus as Lord -- bid our
sad divisions cease.
Let us pray for unity in places in the world that are torn by division, marred by war
and violence, hatred and distrust -- bid our sad divisions cease.
Let us pray for a greater sense of the common good, for an end to the paralyzing
polarization that often afflicts our nation with gridlock and vitriol -- bid our sad
divisions cease.
Let us pray for our local communities, for reconciliation where there has been
division, for renewed commitment to the common good and outreach to those most
in need -- bid our sad divisions cease.
Let us pray for colleagues in our workplaces, which are too often afflicted by petty
jealousies and turf wars, that we may foster a spirit of civility -- bid our sad divisions
cease.
And for our families, which are sometimes torn by animosity, envy, and
estrangement, that love and forgiveness may be a healing balm -- bid our sad
divisions cease.
How do we open our hearts and minds to allow God to end the divisions among us?
 By humility -- not always having to be right, not insisting that my way is the
only way.
 By forgiveness – by letting go of past injury and seeing God even in our
enemies, in those who do not love us
 By respect – especially for those who come from cultures and ethnicities
different than our own. On this Martin Luther King holiday let us heed the
words of the Catholic bishops of the United States who wrote in the 1979
document Brothers and Sisters to Us: “Racism is a sin: a sin that divides the
human family, blots out the image of God among specific members of that
family, and violates the fundamental human dignity of those called to be
children of the same Father.” Let us repent from that sin as we recognize the
God-given dignity of every person
 By being single hearted – like John the Baptist, focusing not on our petty
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selves and our stubborn ways, but on Jesus, “Behold(ing) the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world.”
The gospels record that Jesus prayed often. The longest prayer is found in the
seventeenth chapter of John’s gospel, the so-called Farewell Discourse. John records
the prayer of Jesus for his followers the night before he died: “Ut unum sint -- That
they may be one.” This week, let us join our prayer to His, and let us commit
ourselves to removing the barriers that prevent His prayer from becoming a reality.