Unity by the Holy Spirit

The theme for the 9-day Novena: Equipping the Saints for Ministry and Building up of His Body, The Church (Eph 4:7, 11-13)

I will start with the introductory history given us on the schedule of the Novena

In 1897, Pope Leo XIII published an encyclical about the Holy Spirit, called Divinium Illud Munus. He also called for the Church to pray the Novena for Pentecost at the beginning of the new century. A novena is a prayer said for nine days, which recalls how the early Christians prayed for the nine days between Christ’s Ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Just as Pope Leo XIII prayed for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in 1901, Pope John XXIII prayed in 1962 for “a new Pentecost.” In preparation for the Second Vatican Council, he prayed to God, “Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost”.

On 20^th of May 2018, Pope Francis said the power of the Holy Spirit does not revolutionize life around us but changes our hearts.

Today we also come together on day 8 of our novena to continue to pray for the renewal of hearts, minds, and spirits for a better world as we pray:

Come, Holy Spirit! Fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of Your love! Send forth Your Spirit, and we shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

The Coming of the Holy Spirit with the Gift of Tongues foretold the Unity of the Church throughout all peoples.

What is the meaning of the Coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost? What did it accomplish? How did He tell us of His Presence; reveal Him to us? Acts 2: “4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. 5. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 7. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these, that speak, Galileans? 8. And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born? 11. Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God”.

By the fact that all spoke in the tongues of every nation. There were a hundred and twenty people gathered in one room; ten times twelve. The sacred number of the Apostles was multiplied ten times. What then, did each one upon whom the Holy Spirit descended speak in one of the tongues of each of the nations: to this man one language, to this man another, dividing as it were among themselves the tongues of all the nations? Bear in mind that verse 5 says among others “..out of every nation under heaven.”

No, it was not so: but each man, singly, spoke in the tongue of every nation. One and the same man spoke the tongue of every nation: the unity of the Church amid the tongues of all the nations. See here how the unity of the Catholic Church spread throughout all nations is set before us(A. Marie, 2005). It is unity through the work of the Holy Spirit.

I take inspiration from Sister Benedicta Marie, O.C.D. Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

Unity by the Holy Spirit is the theme of my discussion today and throughout Holy Scriptures, the principle of unity is the Holy Spirit. The Pentecost Sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus, describes this sanctifying – and therefore unifying – the role of the Spirit of Father and Son:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray!

Beautiful words, but poignant as well for anyone who has ever struggled to bring unity where it was not.

To many, the ‘Unity’ chapter of the Bible would probably be John 17, the High Priestly Prayer: John 17:20 and 21 “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, so that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (B. Marie, 2013). Christ being all knowing knew that prayed for Christians unity.

The entire chapter is the intercession of Jesus for His disciples on the night before He died. Jesus asks the grace needed for unity – and it is an extraordinary act of trust both in the magnitude of the Gift being petitioned and also in the situation of the Intercessor. Only hours – perhaps minutes – before the Passion, one might think it was time for Jesus to do a little more thinking about Himself – but no – John 17:9 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me: Because they are Thine”).

Perhaps more amazing, more wonderful, not only is His prayer concerned with the disciples rather than Himself, this petition dearest to His heart is entrusted to the God Who is, at that very moment, willing that Jesus dies by slow torture.

Oh yes, we can sit in church in the comfort of our pews and quibble about the ‘active’ and the ‘passive’ will of God – but torture is torture. For all the theological discussions in history, crucifixion is crucifixion, and all of our distinctions did not save this Victim one stroke of the lash nor a single drop of blood. Christ suffered a humiliating, excruciating and cruel death, death on the cross. We are not generally inclined to trust, much less entrust our fate and our deepest hopes to those who do not put our comfort fairly high on their list of priorities. But Christ went through that for you and me.

There is another ‘unity’ chapter in scripture, though, and it is Ephesians, Chapter 4. In one sense it might be more germane for us to spend more of our time this evening with this passage in any pursuit of unity. No doubt the Father has not disappointed Jesus nor short-changed His disciples in granting us the grace needed for unity.

Surely, no one would claim to have been perfectly generous in responding to that grace – but even when we have been generous, have we been wise? We have been given the grace for unity through the prayer of our Intercessor, Christ, which we must put to use. We have also been given instruction for unity through the inspired Word of God, which must be put, to use before unity can ever happen. Once Christ prayed that we should be united, yes with the Holy Spirit the Paraclete he promised, unity will come, the question to you and I is, will we be the vessels the Holy Spirit will use?

St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians is not a plea to God for the unity of believers like the High Priestly Prayer. It is the hands-on, ‘nuts and bolts’ instruction manual for responding to the grace for unity with real-world wisdom. St. Paul, facing an unknown and likely a very short future, writes from Roman imprisonment to the churches of Asia Minor, knowing that most of his life’s work is now accomplished. His great concern, like that of Jesus, is that the disciples be united, and Ephesians 4 is all about the hard work of making unity happen. There had been no shortage of conflicts during the years of St. Paul’s ministry. He had learned thoroughly – often ‘the hard way’ – the very real sacrifices and disciplines that unity demands.

Eph 2:2-3 “With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity.3 Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The value of unity is precisely in the fact that it is the work and expression of love. Love is not expressed, is not being lived, where patience is not in great evidence. Its resulting fruit, peace, is the only atmosphere in which unity can grow. So we need the ingredients of love, patience, and peace for unity to prevail through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How often is unity wounded or even abandoned in favor of simple impatience or what we would like to excuse as ‘candor’? The patience, which bears with others in order to maintain peace, is a great exercise of emotional discipline.

Eph 4: 7,8,11-13 “7. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore, it says: ‘He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; He gave gifts to men…. 11 And He gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, 12. For the perfecting of the saints (holy ones) for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13. until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ”

The natural and charismatic gifts bestowed by Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit, the diversity of roles and the hierarchical structure of the Church from its very birth are gifts for unity. All of what might be called the ‘teaching and exhorting’ activities within the Church exist to equip us the disciples of Christ for our ministry by making us perfectly united in our faith and our knowledge of God’s Son: 

John 17:21 “That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me”. The gift of the Church’s teaching authority is given for the perfecting of our faith and knowledge, and it requires us to exercise the intellectual discipline of teachability.

Eph 4:14-16“That henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive. 15. Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ: 16. From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love”

St. Paul could have been writing about the twenty-first century Ghana when he wrote about so many “carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Has there ever been a society more inclined to the ‘faddish’ in belief? St. Paul was right on the mark in attributing this to sheer immaturity. It is unity in belief so real and stable that the truth can actually be lived out which gives the Body growth and maturity.

St. Paul’s previous exhortation in verse 2 of Eph 4 to “humility and gentleness, with patience” has nothing to do with accepting ‘trendiness’ in doctrine as a legitimate form of ‘diversity’; it has everything to do with his advice to one young bishop, Timothy, who lived in a society so much like our own, like St. Theresa Parish : 2 Timothy 2: 24, 25 “A servant of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth…”.

As Blessed John XXIII reminded the Church in his first encyclical, Ad Petri Cathedram, “the common saying, expressed in various ways and attributed to various authors, must be recalled with approval: in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.” Whatever may be the natural bent of our disposition, our temperament must be so disciplined that others find us neither contentious nor vacillating.

Eph 4:22-25 “…22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”.

For all the quarrels, scandals and failures that St. Paul had witnessed within the churches, he never lost sight of that invisible reality which he exhorted his fellow believers to live so as to make it visible: their unity in Christ – first for the edification of the Church, and then for the conversion of the pagans: “…we are members one of another”. Not, ‘will be’, ‘should be’ or ‘could be’. We are. May the Spirit of God, the Spirit of unity grant us both the sweetness to speak the truth (v.25), and the strength to so live the truth (v.1), that all be one, and all may believe.

We require unity of purpose to be able to succeed and win our battles –

Judith 15:3 So the Children of Israel seeing them fleeing, followed after them. And they went down sounding trumpets and shouting after them. 4 And because the Assyrians were not united together, they went without order in their flight; but the children of Israel pursuing in one body defeated all that they could find.

Considering the unity of the Holy Trinity may we all aspire to be one with various gifting’s and discharging the great commission given us in Mathew 28:19-20 “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”

Psalms 132:1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity

So beloved as we bring this 9-day Novena to the Holy Spirit to a close let pray and avail ourselves for the Holy Spirit to use us for

• For Unity in the Church so as to cause joy in heaven by winning souls for Christ and defeating the devil
  • Pray for unity among groups in the church. Let’s all focus our attention on attaining a common goal to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• For Unity in Christendom as Christ, Himself prayed for
  • The Holy Spirit should inspire us all to collaborate as much as possible
• For Unity in our families – our Jerusalem before we go into Judea and the rest of the world
• For Unity in our country so there will be peace and development
  • For unity and understanding among tribes and political divides now and towards election 2020.

References 

Marie, A. (2005). The Holy Spirit and the Unity of the Church Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of. Retrieved June 5, 2019, from https://catholicism.org/holyspirit-unity.html#

Marie, B. (2013). The Holy Spirit – The Principle of Unity throughout Scripture. Retrieved June 5, 2019, from http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2013/05/carmelite-sisters-spirit-of-unity-throughout-scripture/

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