Homily for 26 May 2019

26 May 2019

6^th Sunday of Easter, Year C

All the sacraments of the Church have one thing in common (besides God’s presence in them).  And that common thing is: unity or wholeness.  The sacraments are given to us by the Lord as helps in our efforts toward unity and wholeness.

Baptism and confirmation bring us into closer unity with God and with the community of faith.  The Eucharist does the same.  And all three of those sacraments are meant to make us more unified with Christ—such that we become Christ-like. 

The Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation are meant to heal what is broken in body, mind, and soul.  They’re geared toward wholeness, completeness.  Marriage is meant to symbolize and to signify the covenantal power of love, that comes through the unity of husband and wife, and which is a real sign of God’s having made humanity to live in peace, harmony, and unity.

And, lastly, the sacrament of Holy Orders is meant to safeguard and to share all these sacraments of unity.  And it’s meant to image the unity there exists between heaven and earth, between the Lord and his people.  And so, all our sacraments have at least that one thing in common: they’re geared toward unity and wholeness.

And since the sacraments are such a central part of life, the idea and the ideals of unity and wholeness should characterize our common life as believers.  It’s why Jesus says, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another” [Jn 13:35].  Now, he doesn’t say “love for enemies;” he doesn’t say “love for the poor”—even though those are part of the commandments he give us.  Jesus says, “if you have love…for one another.”  And that’s not love as in warm, fuzzy feelings.  That’s love as in peace, cooperation, mutual respect, willingness to sacrifice for one another, willingness to share, and so on.

The sacraments are meant to build us up such that we have love for…one another.  Such that there is unity and wholeness within the community, within the Church, itself.  That’s basic to what it means to be Christian; that there is unity and wholeness within the Body of Christ, within the community of the faithful.

But, as Catholics, we take a very broad view of what unity means, and of what unity looks like.  In the Acts of the Apostles [9:31], we read that “the church throughout the whole of Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria had peace.”  And that phrase, “throughout the whole,” is the key to understanding what Catholic unity looks like.  And, actually, that phrase, “throughout the whole,” is the English translation of the word “catholic.”  Right there in Scripture is the word “catholic”—only in Greek it’s pronounced “kath-holays.”  And it describes the Church; it’s “catholic;” it’s spread “throughout the whole.”

Now, in the Acts of Apostles, it refers to the community spread throughout the whole of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.  But today it refers to the Church spread throughout the whole world, even extending to heaven and whatever spiritual realms there are.  The Church is “all over the place;” it’s “kath-holays,” it’s “catholic.”  And, yet, even in spite of the Church being “throughout the whole” world, in spite of it being spread out into every corner of the physical and spiritual world, the Church is still…one.  It’s characterized by unity within itself. 

It’s why you can go to a Catholic parish in some other place, and you belong there.  When I went to Guatemala about six years ago, I went to Mass at the church of La Merced.  And I could participate in Mass there just as much as I could here in the U.S. because I’m Catholic.  When I went to Rome, and to London and Paris, and to Switzerland, I could participate in the Mass in any of those places because I’m Catholic—because it’s the Church I’m a part of.    If you go to Mass in Green Bay or Kaukauna, you can do it; you belong there, too.  Wherever you go in the world (except in the Middle East, as of late) there’s the Catholic Church.  And it’s fundamentally the same.  Different cultures, yes.  Different music, yes.  Different languages, definitely.  But the same faith, and one and the same community, all over the world.

It’s why we pay attention to the saints and the angels, too.  It’s why we remember the faithful departed every November.  It’s why we visit cemeteries.  It’s why we value our cultural and faith traditions that have been passed on through the centuries.  We’re part of an immense Church, a community of the faithful which is not limited by time or space. 

And that’s what catholic unity looks like.  It’s very colorful.  It’s incredibly diverse.  It’s high and wide.  And, yet, it exists in harmony, as one, as a unity.  And I mention this because that kind of unity is something that we as a parish are still working through.  We know what catholic unity looks like on a global scale, and on a cosmic, interdimensional scale.  But what does catholic unity look like right here, in our little corner of the world?  Right here in our 105 square miles of the parish?

And the answer is: There is no single answer.  That’s what makes us “catholic.”  About 30% of us would love to see a new, single church building as a definitive sign of parish unity and wholeness.  That’s fine.  About 60% of us would prefer to live out parish unity in some other way.  That’s fine, too.  There is no one way that catholic unity looks in a parish; it’s whatever the people involved want it to be—within certain limits.

And those “limits” are not usually physical; they’re more spiritual, emotional, and interpersonal.  For instance, love for one another is one of those limits.  In striving for unity, we cannot not have love for one another.  And if we step outside that expectation that Jesus has of us, then we step outside the basic definition of “catholic unity.” 

How many times do we say to others, “You’re in my thoughts and prayers.”  Well, that’s a way we have love for one another.  Our prayer chain is a good witness to that kind of catholic unity here in the parish.  When it comes to the need for mutual prayer and support, there are no physical boundaries.  And so, we can be witnesses to that kind of unity right now, today. 

Another “limit” that catholic unity has is the idea of co-operation, interchange, exchange, and sharing.  If we’re striving for unity, we cannot not interact and share.  If we step outside that expectation that Jesus has of his disciples, then we step out the basic definition of “catholic unity.”

Of course, any of you who know what married life is like, you know that cooperation, sharing, and so on is essential.  Without it, you don’t have much of a marriage.  But, in order for sharing to happen, we have back up a step.  In this case, before we can talk about unity, we have to talk about diversity; in particular, the diversity (the distinctness) of the husband and the wife.

I think of the Unity Candle we sometimes see at weddings.  There are the two smaller candles on either side of the big candle in the middle.  And those smaller candles symbolize the life of the individual persons; the bride and groom take those and, together, they make something new: the flame on the Unity Candle.  But those smaller candles remain…lit.  The unity of the couple does not—and cannot—destroy the uniqueness of each person.  In fact, their unity depends on their remaining unique and distinct.

And that’s simply because the uniqueness of each person is the “stuff” that’s shared with the other person.  When we think of God—the Holy Trinity—we recognize both unity and diversity.  Yes, there is one God.  But that oneness—that unity—depends on their being a Father and a Son.  And the Holy Spirit is nothing other than the Spirit of Unity, the Bond of Peace and Love between them.  God himself is both one and distinct parts, both at the same time.

When we think of the parish, and we think of “parish unity,” we cannot think about “unity through conformity;” instead, we have to think of “unity through diversity,” “unity through sharing and exchange.”  Love, peace, and unity don’t destroy individual parts; instead, they bind them together through cooperation, sharing, and so on.

This is why in the Acts of the Apostles, we can hear about a multitude of places—Judea, Samaria, and Galilee; Jerusalem, Antioch, and Cilicia—but we’re still talking about one community.  The area described there in the Bible is about the same as entire eastern half of Wisconsin.  And the community through that whole area was “at peace;” that is, it existed in unity and in Christian love. 

What is it that this person in the parish, or that person in the parish has to offer and to share with everybody else?  What do these farmers over here have to offer and share with these people over there who commute to the office every day?  What do our youth have to share and offer our more senior members?  And what do those more senior members have to offer and share with our youth? 

Our parish is incredibly diverse.  And that is a huge asset in trying to foster actual “catholic unity.”  There’s a lot of diversity to share; a variety of life experiences; a variety of histories, a wide array of talents and passions.  And, to add to that, there is a common, shared faith, and the same Lord and God of all. 

So, what does catholic unity look like, here in our little corner of the world?  Well, it’s whatever the faithful decide it’s going to look like—not just the faithful here in the parish, but the faithful throughout time and space.  The saints give us examples of unity to follow—unity with others, and unity with God.  The early Church—“spread throughout the whole” Middle East—gives us an example of unity to follow—again, unity with others and unity God.

We have all the seeds right here, today, for unity.  We have diversity, we have sharing, we have faith, we have the angels and the saints to help us, we have the faithful departed to pray for us, we have the “catholic” Church throughout the world to draw on, we have God.  And, we have the sacraments—especially the Eucharist, which steers us toward unity, love, and peace.

We have all we need for unity right here, today.  What we do with it all—well, that’s up to us.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.  Saint Michael, and all you Choirs of Angels, pray for us.  Saint Peter and Saint Paul, pray for us.  Saint Francis and Saint Clare, pray for us.  Saint Patrick and all you Saints and holy people of God everywhere, in every time and place, pray for us.