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5/16 -7th Sunday of Easter
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There is an immense call for unity around the world especially as we are being ravaged by the pandemic. Many countries have to make hard choices between safety, health and compassion as regards to the movement of persons. Stories and movies give us great inspiration about unity which is the underlying message of this week’s Gospel. In the novel, The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas, the title characters chose as their motto, “One for all and all for one!” Successes and failures are shared equally among team members. Other phrases speak to the same theme: “United we stand, divided we fall!” or “And if a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand” (Mark 3:25). Or for those of you who were fans of Jack Shepherd in the television series LOST, “If we cannot live together, we are going to die alone.” All of these phrases speak of the value of being unified. As unique, gifted, creative, beautiful, complicated, sinful, human and competent people, we know that we can be so much more when we come together.
In today’s Gospel. John has Jesus praying the following words: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.” One for all and all for one! Isn’t that what Jesus is praying? Oh, that we could all be one as the Father and the Son are one. Indeed, what would the world be like if we lived as one, just as the Father and Son live in that complete oneness? The unity that exists in the relationship between the Father and Son is a unity to which we are all called and for which we were all created. When we cease to live in that unity, we are living in a manner that is contrary to how we are called to be in this world. Where there is war, division, discord, hate, and violence, we are living in a manner that goes against the oneness and unity for which we are created to live. When we take steps toward creating peace, unity, and harmony, we are on the path to fulfilling the vocation to which we are called.
How then can we as individuals, families, parishioners, and citizens work toward accomplishing these steps toward peace in our own lives? How can we live in the oneness that Jesus prayed for in the gospel so that we live as the Father and Son are one? How can we live in that Oneness that is God? The answer comes from the second reading we have today from the First Letter of John. This letter must have written towards the end of his life. The answer can seem so simple and obvious that we can sometimes forget or ignore the advice, or rather, commandment, we receive from the scriptures. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God.” We must then love one another so as to be one and to remain in God. Love one another! One for all and all for one! There is an ancient story of how when John the apostle could not walk any more, they would carry him to the Church on Sundays and there he would preach a homily of three words, “love, love, love.”
Let our readings today and the Eucharist we celebrate inspire us to take the first step toward healing the brokenness that exists in our lives, our families and our world. Each step of love is a step toward living in the oneness to which we are called. Each one of us is called to work toward that oneness for the good of all. And when someone makes that step, even when that step takes place on the other side of our planet, we all benefit from that step toward unity and oneness. The motto of the Three Musketeers is one that rings true from Sacred Scriptures, from 19th century French novels and from the lives of each one of us today. Love one another! One for all and all for one!