November 12 2024 - St. Josaphat - Overcoming division

 

St. Josephat was born into family of orthodox Christians in the year 1580, but as an adult he joined one of the eastern churches that had recently returned to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.  He became a monk of the Order of St. Basil and just a few years later, he was consecrated an archbishop.  

As archbishop sought to educate his flock and reform of his clergy, and offer his personal example of holiness. By doing so, Josephat won over the majority of the Orthodox to convert to Catholicism. Unfortunately, the vocal minority plotted to kill him. With furious cries of “Kill the Papist” he was killed and thrown into a river.

St. Josephat gave his life for the unity of the Church—the unity the Lord prayed for at the Last Supper, when he said, “Father, I pray that they might be one, as you and I are one”. Josaphat gave his life--he died trying to fulfill this prayer of Our Lord—trying to bring the Orthodox back into the fold—back into full communion with Rome.  

On the Feast of Saint Josaphat in 1923, Pope Pius XI declared Saint Josaphat the Patron Saint of Reunion between Orthodox and Catholics.  Pius XI also issued an encyclical letter called, “Ecclesiam Dei”.  He explained that no prerogative of the Church has been assailed more bitterly by the enemy as its unity. 

From the beginning, the devil has fueled our pride to create division. He has and continues to sew seeds of arrogance—leading us to believe that we know better than the Church. His errors lead to heresies and schisms and Catholics allowing themselves to fall away from the Church, and factionalism, all which are a sort of anti-evangelism. For Church division certainly doesn’t make Christianity look more attractive. 

Rather, we are called to the unity taught by Our Lord, and echoed by Paul in our reading today, to have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

As we know there are great divisions in our nation, there are many family members estranged from one another, there are many who have set themselves at odds with God through sin. Any division in family, community, nation, Church, or in the human heart can only truly be healed with God’s help.  

Saint Josaphat saw prayer, education, a devout clergy, and personal holiness as indispensable to healing the wounds of sin and division.  May the example and heavenly intercession of Saint Josaphat inspire us to work for unity in the Church and the healing of human hearts for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For Pope Francis and all bishops, that they may be blessed with wisdom and courage as they lead efforts toward Christian unity, 

For families experiencing division and estrangement, that through God's grace they may find paths to reconciliation and healing.

For our own community, that we may be instruments of peace and unity, overcoming pride and prejudice through lives of authentic Christian witness.

For all those struggling with addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind: that they will be fortified and blessed with the Father’s healing, light, and peace.  

We pray that in a special way during the Month of November for our beloved dead, for our deceased family members, friends, parishioners, and benefactors, for deceased priests and religious, servicemen and women, and for N., for whom this mass is offered, that they may be united with Christ in the heavenly kingdom.

Merciful Father, through the intercession of St. Josaphat, help us to heal the wounds of division in our Church, our families, and our world. Grant us the grace to be instruments of your peace and unity. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost 2022 - Unity

 

On Friday, the Holy Father, met with a delegation of young priests and monks from the Eastern Orthodox Churches—so the Greek Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and so on. And that is quite the feat, as the Orthodox Churches, historically have not always had the most cordial of relationships with Rome nor with each other. So to get everyone in a room together, in Rome, is already a Pentecost miracle. But then the Holy Father took the opportunity to speak to this disparate group, about one of the important themes of Pentecost: unity. “Strive to preserve the unity of the spirit” St. Paul writes to the Ephesians. The Lord himself prayed for the church’s unity at the Last supper, “I pray Father, that they may be one, as you and I are one.”

The Holy Father offered four insights about what Pentecost teaches us about unity. 

Firstly, the Holy Father said unity is a “gift…a fire from on high”. Unity is a gift from God. With all of our divisions in the human family and even in the Church, the Holy Father says, yes, we need to take great efforts to work for unity: prayer, dialogue, disposing ourselves to what God wants for us, but unity, says Pope Francis, is primarily “not a fruit of earth, but of heaven. It is not primarily the result of our commitment, OUR efforts and OUR agreements,” he says, “but of the working of the Holy Spirit, to whom we need to open our hearts in trust, so that he can guide us along the path to full communion. Unity is a grace, a gift.”

So, yes, we need to do our part, but in the end, all human efforts fail, they are insufficient, for the unification of divided humanity is ultimately the work of God. Jesus came to reconcile us to one another and to the Father, something that we could not and cannot do on our own. No amount of secular human progress will create unity. We need God if we hope to live in unity.

A second lesson that Pentecost teaches us is that unity God wants for us is not necessarily uniformity,” he said, “much less the fruit of compromise or fragile diplomatic balances of power. Unity is harmony in the diversity of the charisms bestowed by the Spirit. For the Holy Spirit loves to awaken both multiplicity and unity, as at Pentecost, where different languages were not reduced to one alone, but were taken up in all their variety. Harmony is the way of the Spirit, for, as Saint Basil the Great says, the Spirit is harmony.”

One of the things I love about St. Ignatius is our harmonious  and diverse unity. On any given Sunday we have folks from the neighborhood, folks who’ve moved away, life-long parishioners, and neophytes, catholics from various ethnic backgrounds, economic strata, and professions. Parishioners with so many different gifts. And we offer two forms of the holy mass, the ordinary form in English, and the old rite, both in harmony, hopefully mutually enriching each other, teaching each other, both bringing about a diversity of charisms from the Holy Spirit. 

A third lesson of Pentecost, the Holy Father explains,  is that unity is a journey. “Unity is attained along the way” he says, “it grows by sharing each step of the journey, by facing its joys and struggles, and experiencing its unexpected surprises. As Saint Paul told the Galatians, we are called to walk by the Spirit. In the words of Saint Irenaeus, whom the Holy Father named as the Doctor of Unity, the Church is tõn adelphõn synodía, in the Greek, “a caravan of brothers”. In this caravan, unity grows and matures: a unity that – in God’s quiet way – does not suddenly appear as an overwhelming miracle, but quietly emerges in the patient and persevering progress of a journey made together.” What a beautiful image. A caravan wherein each of the members are seeking growth in our unique virtues, but growing in holiness, together.

Are we here at St. Ignatius, or in the Diocese of Cleveland, “perfectly one”, as the Lord, prayed for at the Last Supper? Not quite. Are we “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing” as St. Paul taught the Philippians. Not quite. But Paul said, strive to be of the same mind, meaning, it is an effort, a journey, as the Holy Father says.. As I preached about last week, our unity comes from our personal assent to the truths, the dogmas of the faith, and our worship of the one true God. But we have some ways to go, don’t we.

Lastly, the Holy Father explains that unity “is closely tied to the fruitfulness of the Christian proclamation: unity is for mission.  Jesus prayed for his disciples that they “may all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). At Pentecost, the Church was born as a missionary Church. Today too, the world is waiting…to hear the Gospel message of charity, freedom and peace. It is a message that we are called to bear witness to with one another, not against one another or apart from one another.”

Unity is for mission. St. Ignatius of Antioch has a mission to the neighborhood, to the fallen away Catholics, and angry or hurt Catholics, the unchurched, the drug-addled, the freemasons, the protestants, the muslims. It’s not just my mission folks. It’s our mission. Our communal mission from God. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to send us insight into how to fulfill that mission, and strength for that mission. 

Please pray for your parish throughout the week. If you cannot come to daily mass throughout the week, make sure you lift your parish up to God, and your pastor. These are complex times aren’t they? Confusing times. But God chose us to be here now, in 2022, for the work of the Gospel. May we be one in our mission.

The Holy Father concluded his thoughts, “Dear brothers, may the cross of Christ be the compass that directs us on our journey towards full unity. For on that cross Christ, our peace, reconciled us and gathered us into one people” 

May we draw close to the cross of Christ every day, to be set alight with spiritual fire, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.