St. Gregory in today’s Office of Readings has some beautiful words on the unity of faith in the Christian community. Here is an excerpt (my translation from the Italian text I use):
“But among all the words that he (Jesus) speaks and all the graces that he bestows, there is one that is the greatest of all and brings together all the others. It is with these words that Christ admonishes his disciples to always find themselves united in the answers to questions and in their evaluations as to what is good to do; to experience themselves united in one heart and one spirit and to esteem this unity as the one good; to bind themselves in the unity of the Holy Spirit with the bond of peace; to build one body and one spirit; to work together with one calling, animated by the same hope….. The bond of this unity is authentic glory.” — St. Gregory of Nyssa, “Homily on the Canticle of Canticles”; Hom. 15; PG 44, 1115-1118
One of the things I admired about Pope John Paul II was his untiring efforts toward reconciliation between the Churches, especially between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. But also the efforts he made to reach out to our Jewish brothers and sisters, and to the Protestant communities.
It seems to me though that most of the hard work of bringing back together into one flock of Christ all people who call Jesus the Son of God will be done at the local level. Perhaps even at the level of our own families. Our Holy Father has an indispensable role as the successor of Peter and the Vicar of Christ on earth. He leads and enters into aspects of this only he can enter in communion with the other bishops of the world. We the People of God will do most of the legwork.
For we are the face of Christ in the immediacy of the human condition to our neighbor next door.
Indeed, the work of unity occurs on the local level. While one may find it easy to disagree with certain beliefs or customs in an abstract sense, once a relationship with people is involved, its another matter entirely.
Case in point, I’m very much anti-Nestorianism, and admittedly in the past, have been less than cordial in such regards. On the other hand. it often becomes very difficult to be anti-this, or anti-that in a jerk like fashion once you sit down and get to know someone. This doesn’t mean shoveling the differences under the carpet by any means… for sure, my friends, who happen to be Nestorians I still disagree with, but it doesnt mean that I dont try to love them as Christ would, as I approach said disagreement in gentleness and concern, rather than as a blaring trumpet or gong.
Speaking of the local level, Deacon Chris of Pax Christi in Rochester sent me, a Lutheran guy, over to your blog last night (sadly, voting had just closed).
Hi Ron,
Thanks for stopping by and adding a comment. Oh, Nestorius! Yes, his heresy is still prevalent. For any reader who might not know who Nestorius was or what his erroneous teaching was: Nestorius was bishop of Constantinople in the 4th and 5th Centuries, and taught that Jesus had two distinct persons -human and divine – which could not be united. So he taught that the divine person of Jesus was taken up by the human person of Jesus, but he couldn’t accept that the divine Son of God could have been born as human. He preached against the title of Theotokos, “Mother of God” for Mary.
Catholic doctrine has taught that Jesus has TWO NATURES, human and divine, and only ONE PERSON — the divine person of the second person of the Trinity.The key to remember is ONE person, TWO natures.
Thanks for the teachable moment, Ron! Stop by again and send your friends. It is good to have an ecumenical voice.
Deacon Bob