Parents, do you pray for your children? Children do you pray for your parents? Teachers do you pray for your students. I pray for you, parishioners of St. Cecelia’s, as your pastor, every day. Praying for each other is very important. We heard today Jesus prayed saying “Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” What is it that Jesus prayed for? He prayed that they may all be one. Why didn’t he pray for happiness, prosperity, peace or joy or even eternal life? Because he knew it’s going to be a great challenge for us to be one. It’s a reality in the whole world, in the whole church, in each communities and even in the families that we lack unity. We make boundaries, we discriminate, we push others aside because of color, race, language, nationality, religious beliefs, etc. we even make division even in the family. Saint Paul had to deal with the disunity in the early church. So he wrote “Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
To be one we don’t have to lose our identity or our individuality. But what we have to do? St. Paul teaches us in his letter to the Romans, “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rm 12:1-2). St. Paul in his letter to Ephesians gives us the rules of life to achieve that unity that Christ prayed for. “Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his [own] hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need. No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ” (Eph 4:25-31). To accomplish this unity, we all have to do a duty. I call it the duty of care. We all share in this responsibly in many different ways. Whether we are a parent, grandparent, teacher, friend, brother, or sister as Christians we are called to do the duty of care for Christ as we care for each other. Show the power of your example not the example of your power.
Oneness is not about eliminating differences. It is about love. Love is the only thing that can ever overcomes division. Over and over Jesus tells us that. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself and love your enemy. Our love for God, neighbor, self, and enemy reveals our oneness, and the measure of our oneness, our God-likeness, is love. In love there may be differences but there is no division. God’s love knows no boundaries. God loves male and female, rich and poor, gay and straight, Hispanic and Anglo. God loves Christians and Muslims, conservatives and liberals, educated and uneducated. God loves everyone. All are loved fully, completely, and uniquely as each one is.
For far too long we have dealt with each other through our boundaries, differences, and divisions. You can see where that has gotten us. You need only look at the world, read the newspaper, or watch the news. When we deal with others through our divisions we label, do violence, and hunker down to defend our position. There is no oneness in that. Though Jesus is praying to the Father, you and I will in large part be the ones to answer Jesus’ prayer. We answer his prayer every time we choose how to love, who to love, where to love. It is time we answer Jesus’ prayer and deal with one another in love.