Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 18, 2021
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,
“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them,
“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”
In today’s gospel Jesus is responding to people who are curious about the behavior of his disciples. Apparently, they’re living out their faith in a way that challenges the status quo and draws people to Jesus for an inquiry, a closer look. Those people learn that in Jesus they’ve encountered something new, fresh, bold.
In my long-ago undergraduate days I struggled with a Catholic faith that I knew well but rarely felt. Then I encountered classmates, friends, and campus ministers whose faith was heartfelt and vibrant, clearly visible in the way they lived. I was curious, and asked about their experience of God and faith. They drew me into conversations and prayer that enabled me to experience the Gospel message in a way that was new and wonderfully engaging.
When too many experience loneliness, poverty, injustice, and emptiness, is there anything about our lives that draws people to Jesus and his Gospel of love and peace? Does our lived faith as individuals and as Church proclaim a hope worth experiencing and sharing? The Gospel message is timeless and ever new, and it still challenges the status quo, drawing people to Jesus when it’s passionately lived by today’s disciples.
Prayer
Lord, give us time today to be silent and prayerful, conscious of your personal presence, moment by moment, sustaining us in all our experiences and relationships. Call us to new decisions for faithfulness and generosity, and whenever you call us by name may we reply, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Amen.
Saint of the Day
"Today, in many parts of the world,
under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit,
many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain
that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires.
The Sacred Council exhorts all the Catholic faithful to recognize
the signs of the times and to take an active
and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism."
— UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO §4
As Christians, we are all too familiar with the divisions that have plagued Christ's followers since the very first days of Christianity and continue to this day.
Throughout the twentieth century, as the modern world became increasingly fractured and plagued by violence, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI saw that Christians should heed even more closely Christ's call to be one as Christ is one with the with Father (Jn 17:21). If Christ says, in the Gospel of John, that the world would know that his followers were Christians because of their love for one another (Jn 13:35), the leaders of the Church saw how the bickering and the divisions between Christians marred their witness of Christ to the world. In a divided world, Christians ought to be a witness of the "one faith and one baptism" (Ephesians 4:4-6) they profess in Christ.
John XXIII and Paul VI, particularly, saw it was their responsibility, as Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, and Vicar of Christ on earth to try to follow Christ's command to Peter to "feed my sheep," and to care for the flock (Jn 21:17). Thus, these two popes worked hard to bridge centuries-old divisions between Christians. These popes (both canonized saints as of October 2018) advanced the unity of the Church worldwide. As pope, John XXIII established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity which is today the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. This branch of the Curia became the Roman Catholic Church's representative in working with other Christians churches and ecumenical organizations.
John XXIII invited theologians from other Christian traditions to Vatican II as observers, such as George Lindbeck, a famous Lutheran American theologian. Opening up dialogue with other Christians led to continued dialogues with Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reform churches. Several of Notre Dame's own theological faculty have been asked by the Vatican to serve on these dialogues, a great honor and responsibility. In 1999, the Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity jointly published the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document was a milestone in Lutheran-Catholic relations, since many of Luther's theological rallying cries during the Reformation, nearly 500 years before, centered around issues of justification (e.g., sola fide).
John XXIII's successor, Paul VI, made a great leap in Christian and Orthodox relations by meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople in 1964, in Jerusalem. Together, Paul and Athenagoras revoked millennium-old excommunications that had been mutually invoked upon their respective churches. Tantur Ecumenical Institute, which houses Notre Dame's Jerusalem Global Gateway, was built to honor this meeting. The Vatican has entrusted to Notre Dame the responsibility for caring for and maintaining this important property, which is built to help Christians truly seek unity through the study of Scripture, discussion and prayer together.
Two important Church teachings regarding Christian Unity and Christian Ecumenism are Unitatis Redintegratio, "Restoration of Unity," and Ut Unum Sint, "That they may be one." Unitatis Redintegratio was a decree drafted by the bishops during the Second Vatican Council and officially promulgated by Paul VI on November 21, 1964. Ut Unum Sint is an encyclical letter by Pope John Paul II, published in May 1995, on the Church's commitment to ecumenism. Both documents urge Christians to work for peace and Christian Unity by healing divisions.
As we mourn the deep divisions in our nation, our Church, and our world, the witness of Christian charity in unity becomes all the more important. Our divided and conflicted world is full of men and women sorely in need of the light and truth of the Gospel.
The image above is of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which is divided between six branches of Christian churches. It is a sign both of our unity in the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection and in the brokenness of our communion with one another.
On this opening day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, may we work to heal divisions between all Christians, so that we may all be truly one in Christ!
Image Credit: Our featured image is in the public domain. Last accessed November 24, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
