Bishop's Message: Pray for unity

In his Inaugural Address, President Biden called our nation to unity. Unity is everyone’s hope and desire. Unity was the last prayer of Jesus on this earth, “I pray that they may all be one.” (John 17:21)

In order to understand the profound nature of unity, we must acknowledge that unity is a gift from God. We cannot purchase it or obtain it with our own merits. Therefore, as Jesus did, we too must pray for the grace of unity. 

At the same time, we can do our part to foster unity in our family, our places of work and our nation. 

First, for unity to be solidly founded we must follow the Gospel of Jesus. If we are all created by God and acknowledge that we are all His children, then we are brothers and sisters to one another. 

Second, we need to persevere in dialogue. It is important, especially in this moment of history, that we do not close ourselves off from one another because we disagree on issues or for other reasons. Dialogue leads to understanding (not necessarily to agreement) and understanding offers relationships even friendship. Friendship is an expression of unity. Friendship requires mercy in order to be sustained beyond the differences in search of common goals: civility, order, peace, and, of course, unity. 

We hear the call. Are we prepared to respond and do our part? If so, God will do His.