In the work of unity

Friday of week 19 in Ordinary Time

Matthew 19:3-12

So then, what God has united, man must not divide.

Think of what happened to Israel and how they received bountiful blessings and miracles.  Are these all consequential? Or was there a  great Someone who gathered them for himself?  And what does he want of them?  He wants that they and we be united with him.

In the gospel, Jesus reminds us of the unitive aspect of marriage:  what God has joined, no man can separate.  Furthermore, he expanded this to people of every calling; we may have different calling, but we all have one mission.

Do we think about the unitive aspect of being church?  What are the benefits of unity?

First, it is a reflection of God himself who is One in Three Divine Persons.   There is no 'to each his own' in the Church.  God calls us as one.

Second, God called a people, a race, and chose them as his own.  Religion is a personal experience of communion.  Heaven is a communion.

Third, we are called to absolutely love one another, even our enemies.

On the life of St. Roche: 

His life reflected a desire to work for unity.

First, he worked with the sick that he was inflicted with the sickness.

Second, he was one with the suffering and persecuted.   He didn't defend himself when he was wrongly accused.

Third, he was one with the poor and the outcast.  He was the son of a governor; but he chose to side with the deprived and served them.

Let us work with and for unity.  Unity is God's heaven here on earth.