ALL ARE ONE
We are one in Christ and form
but a single family because God is the Father of us all.
In the early Church,
all of the first converts were Jews, as were the Apostles themselves. When
Gentiles began to enter the Church, many Jewish Christians had the mistaken
notion that they had to be Jews first in order to be Christians. St. Paul's mission was
mainly among Gentiles, whereas that of St. Peter was spent principally with
Jews. St. Peter understood that faith in Jesus as the Christ was the necessary
mark of a Christian, not the observance of the old Mosaic Law. However, he was
under pressure from Jewish converts to make everyone follow that Law. When
Peter showed some weakness about enforcing the correct principle, St. Paul admonished him.
It was vital that Peter, the visible head of the Church, give a good example.
Conflict is not new
with us. It was present in the lives of Saints Peter and Paul. Paul is
challenging Peter to be authentic, that is, to not expect of others what he
himself is not doing. We are all aware of conflicts in relationships in our own
lives, past and present. They might be as relatively unimportant as not
agreeing on which TV program to watch, or as important as not seeing eye-to-eye
on the major political platforms, or making a big family decision. It might be
that some of our conflicts arise out of not acting authentically.
St. Paul understood and insisted that "all are one in Christ
Jesus." To become a Christian was to take on a new identity, to share with
Christ the wonderfully good news of being a child of God. So where can one turn
but to the prayer of Jesus Himself to receive the strength to be authentic; in
other words to act in a reliable, trustworthy and genuine way? So, when the
disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He taught them what we call the
"Lord's Prayer." By this prayer Jesus indicates that the God who is
His Father is our Father as well. What a marvelous gift! And with Jesus, not
only with each other, do we call upon God as "Our Father." Jesus is
part of the word "our." The Father of Jesus is our Father too because
we are one with Jesus as members of His Mystical Body, the Church.
Sometimes converts
might regret that they were not Catholic from the time of their infancy, but
all that does not matter. The only thing that matters is that Jesus has taken
us to Himself and transformed us into His likeness so that God is truly our
Father. We are one in Christ and form but a single family because God is the
Father of us all. The "Our Father," which we pray at each Eucharist,
contains three essential elements of prayer: recognizing and praising God as
God, asking God for what we need and forgiving others as we forgive.
Our mortal life is to
be ordered in such a way that we fulfill our responsibilities as citizens of
earth and of heaven so that we might attain to the aim of life as established by
God. That is, all humans, whether taken singly or as united in society, have
the responsibility of tending ceaselessly towards the attainment of heavenly
things. May we use for this purpose only, earthly goods, which must not deter
our eternal happiness.