Daily Retreat 06/01/06

2006 Jun 1 Thu: Justin, mt M

Acts 22: 30; 23: 6-11/ Ps 15(16): 1-2a and 5. 7-8. 9-10. 11/ Jn 17: 20-26

From today’s readings: "I am on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead.... Keep me, O God, for in You I take refuge.... I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word...."

Unity and Communion

Concluding His priestly prayer at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus expressed His longing for unity and communion among His disciples, "ut omnes unum sint" ("that they may all be one") that they would reflect the absolute communion and unity of Jesus with God the Father.

All Christians long and pray for this unity among believers, ut omnes unum sint, that there be an end to division and discord in the mystical body of Christ. To our prayers, we must join our own whole-hearted commitment to charity and to truth, for unity and communion is impossible without life being immersed in divine love and guided by the fullness of truth.

This means that every one of us needs to begin by repenting of sins against charity and striving daily to put into practice the divine command that we love one another as He has loved us. It also means that each of us needs to accept all the teachings of Christ and His Church, no matter how demanding or difficult some may find them, for those who reject even part of Christ’s Gospel thus reject part of the one true foundation for unity and communion!