Unity: Jesus’ Great Prayer And Hope

INTRODUCTION

Our model of unity is the life of the Most Holy Trinity which is mutual love, unity and distinction. Jesus himself prayed that we might be one. This unity is possible when we go out of ourselves to serve others.

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“Father, that they may be one, as we are one.” (Jn 17: 22) This was the desire of Jesus before undergoing His Passion.Unity is God’s gift to everyone—unity for “all”, not just for the Church, but for the whole human family. This means every person we meet is a candidate to unity. For this reason, we build unity with every person we meet wherever we are- at home, at work, in our parish etc. In the Acts of the Apostles, the first Christian community was of one heart and mind, “no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.” (Acts 4:32)

But how does one live in unity? Chiara Lubich, who founded the Focolare Movement together with a group of young people in 1943, read Jesus’ prayer that “all may be one.” On the feast of Christ the King, they felt they were made for unity; they asked Jesus to show them the way. They were surprised as the Psalm of that day says: “only ask it of me and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession till the ends of the earth.”

How do we live in unity? It is best expressed in loving. It is going out to meet our neighbors where they are, with their needs and help them.

The lockdown of the Covid-19 gave us occasions to do acts of love and build unity. We found ways to live in unity. We remembered our company driver. We thought of how the times must be difficult for him, so we gave him financial assistance to support his family.

Again during the lockdown, a member of our community asked me to head the communications group of an initiative to smoothen the knot in the food supply chain process. It meant facilitating online meetings, writing scripts, etc. It was challenging but through God’s grace we were able to make great impact with effort. Living in unity is loving the Forsaken Jesus; that is going out and being at the service of others.

There are moments when building unity becomes difficult. We should remember that “we must bend and not break” and continue. Chiara writes: “Unity! But who would dare speak of it? It is as ineffable as God! You feel it, you enjoy it… Everyone enjoys its presence. It is Jesus among us.”

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