Today’s Office of Readings includes a selection from Pope Clement I’s letter to the Corinthians, written not long after the original twelve Apostles lived. It is a splendid reflection on unity within the Church. As always, I use an Italian text, so the English translation below is mine.
It is written: Be united with the holy ones so that they who follow will be sanctified. In another passage: With the innocent man you will be innocent, with the elect you will be elect, but with the perverse you yourself will be perverse. (Ps 17) Therefore, let us be united with the innocent and the just, because they are the elect of God.
Why the spats, the anger, the discord, the schisms and the wars among you? Do we not have the one God, one Christ, one Spirit of grace upon us, one calling in Christ? Why the tearing and slashing at the members of Christ, why the rebellions against his very body to the point of delirium, forgetting that we are members of one another?
Remember the words of Jesus our Lord. He said, “Woe to that man! It would have been better if he were not to have been born than to have brought scandal to my chosen ones. It would be better if he were to put a millstone around his neck and be submerged in the sea than to draw into evil one of my chosen ones.” (Lk 17: 1-2) Your divisions have misled many, have thrown many into doubt, all of us into sadness; and your divisions remain even now.
Take in hand the letter of Saint Paul the apostle. What did he first write to you at the beginning of his message? Certainly it is under divine inspiration that he wrote to you a letter about himself, Peter, Apollo because until that time there were among you a tendency to factions. Such caused you a little sin, since you preferred famous apostles of clear reputation as well as men approved by them. Now however, you listen to men amounting to nothing, to people that pervert you and toss discredit on your fraternal cohesion, such that they make themselves celebrities to you. This is a dishonor that we must eliminate as soon as possible. We throw ourselves at the feet of the Lord and plead with him with tears… that he may restore to us his friendship and reestablish us in a magnificent and chaste fraternity of love.
I think it well worth our reflection to consider to whom in our lives we spend time listening, and to what extent do we place them in some “celebrity” status. Many there are who compete for our allegiance when it comes to our spiritual lives. Many are the books and CDs and other media out there that would have us believe they are sources of direction and reliance in our religious lives.
Remember, our Lord Jesus Christ himself established the apostles to carry on his work as shepherd of the flock. To Peter specifically he gave special position and responsibility, a position and responsibility that has been passed down to others who have occupied the Chair of Peter, the bishop of Rome. One cannot go astray if one listens to these men when they speak in the areas of faith and morals.
To the others who occupy space in our spiritual lives, the question can always be, “Do they maintain cohesion and unity, in the spirit of obedience, to the bishops and to the Pope?” If no, then we need turn our attention elsewhere.
God calls us to that unity.
