As we celebrate the seventh Sunday of Eastertide Jesus calls his disciples to unity. It’s a call that’s always been necessary for the church and for the world. It has particular resonance in these times. It seems that in every area we are becoming more aware of our fragmentation and brokenness. Wherever we look we see the very real human cost of those divisions.
The reality is that we are called to live with others, and human life flourishes best when we can live together in some sort of community. When those communities break down, whatever the cause, life becomes harder, more impoverished and sometimes impossible for all of us.
So Jesus’ call to unity has an even greater urgency today that may have had at other times. As he prays for his disciples he says:
“May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.”
His words are a deeper call than human unity, important as that is. He invites us into union with himself and the Father. This deeper union in Christ is the foundation stone of the human unity that our fractured world needs so desperately. Healing fractured relationships and rebuilding communities is hard work.
It is only through our grounding in the love of Christ and the Father that we are able to commit ourselves to reaching out to those who are different from us, who disagree with us, who scare us or who have hurt us.
Where do you hear Christ’s call to unity in your life today?