Gospel of John, chapter 17:22

Before departing this world, the Lord assures us of his protection. He prays, not for the world, but for us who have to live in the world, though not of it, for we belong to him. Put your faith in the Lord; be faithful to his message of salvation which has overcome the temptations and pitfalls of today’s world.

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that we are living in a fragmented society; a society in which basic institutions have come unglued. Families are ravaged by divorce and separations; governments and financial institutions are compromised by greed and self-interest; the sex abuse scandals in social and church organizations have exposed them as flawed and wounded institution.

What are we to make of this?

Chapter seventeen of St John’s gospel provides us with an answer to this kind of fragmentation; and the answer is to be found within each of us. Union with one another flow from our union with the Creator. “We are made for you, Lord,” says St. Augustine, “and our hearts are restless ‘til they rest in you.” If we are united to Christ in word and deed, we will draw close to each other because we will be feeding from the same spiritual source.

Francis Thompson wrote a beautiful poem, called: “The Hound of Heaven.” It is about a restless individual who sought unity from without but was always discontent until, eventually; he found it deep within himself, in harmony with his creator.

In addressing the Father, in today’s gospel, the Lord refers to the unity of his followers as “the glory which you have given me.” Glory is the inner nature or beauty of a thing. The glory of a flower is its loveliness; the glory of a child is its innocence; the glory of the followers of Christ, is their unity. We belong to one another. We need one another just as surely as the early Christians needed and belonged to one another. What was their secret? Their secret was their unity and love in Christ which everyone admired, even their enemies. As they were being led like lambs to the slaughter in the Roman Coliseum, their persecutors exclaimed: “look how they love one another.” They gave glory to God by their love for one another, even as they were being led to their deaths.

Everybody wants to belong; everybody wants to live in peace and harmony with one another. But, the world’s notion of unity often conflicts with the spiritual unity Jesus offers. Society has a tendency to push unity on people from outside by forcing conformity through laws and the will of the majority. But, what if the majority is a bunch of yahoos like the people described by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver’s travels? What then? Swift’s tragic and prophetic vision of society’s unity already took place in Nazi Germany; it happened also in the U.S.S.R; and it is happening in our society today.

Today’s scripture offers a spiritual remedy for society’s fragmentation. It offers us a way to achieve true unity and freedom; that we may “be one” as Jesus and the Father “are one.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy