Ever since the Fall, God has laboured for Man’s redemption and in Christ, the restoration of creation continues. In order for Jesus to keep His promise to be with us and to continue the mission to save mankind, there has to be a new dispensation, that is, a new way in which Jesus acts because He is no longer with us in a “physical” sense. The Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles ushered in the age of the Church and signified the manner which Jesus will be present to us. Primarily, He is present through the Liturgy and the Sacraments until the day He comes again.
Concretely, it means that now the Church is the principal instrument which Christ through the Spirit will use for the purpose of salvation. This mission to save is universal because at the Ascension, Christ issued the Great Commission. The promised Holy Spirit will empower the Apostles and those who follow after with courage and conviction in this mission to make disciples of all the nations.
At present, the task seems almost insurmountable if we were to consider how diversified the world has become but more than that, how canonised the position is whether baptised or not, everyone is assured of salvation. Bear in mind the Apostles and the sort of qualifications they possessed. None whatsoever and the only one qualified to handle money betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. More than that, as one body huddled in the Upper Room, they were hesitant and uncertain. It probably explains their staying behind closed doors for they were clueless as to what they should do. Here is our intersection with them. If we are overwhelmed by the pluralism of religions, they would have been too.
In this age of the Church, the Holy Spirit has a gargantuan task of assisting us in making disciples of all the nations. No matter what our views are with regard to the possibility of “Christianising” the world, the fact remains that at the end of time, when Christ comes to gather us into the Father’s Kingdom, there will only be one head and one Body which is the Church. This vision is reflected in the Collect of the Vigil Mass for Pentecost where we beg God to “grant that from out of the scattered nations, the confusion of many tongues may be gathered by heavenly grace into one great confession of your name”. The “one confession” refers to the Church and this is echoed in the Preface for the Mystery of Pentecost. “This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth, opened to all peoples the knowledge of God and brought together the many languages of the earth in profession of the one faith”.
In order to realise this future, the Holy Spirit’s role is to teach and to remind us of the things that we know and are necessary for salvation. At the same time, He draws us more deeply into the mystery of Christ so that the baptised can witness to the truth of His Paschal mystery. The profession of faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus knits us together into one. Written into each Eucharistic Prayer, there is an epiclesis that prompts the Holy Spirit to gather us into “one Body, one spirit in Christ”.
The reality is that we are nowhere near a unified Body of Christ—a sad reminder that the Spirit can only be effective in advocating on our behalf when we cooperate with Him. The many gifts lavished upon the Church is to enable us to collaborate with Him as well to foster our unity. Why? Because the unity of Christians as brothers and sisters is a powerful beacon that shines in a world fractured and fragmented by disputes and wars. Think of the scandalous armed conflict between the Russian and Ukrainian. Both sides claim Christ to be their Saviour.
Unity is profoundly attractive. At the most basic level, the unity within a body is such that when every part is working as one, then the body is at its optimum. Health is wealth, we say. Likewise, when groups of people live in harmony, that peaceful coexistence will draw others to it. However, in an individual, when the integrity of the body breaks down, the person’s health deteriorates. Similarly, the failure of individuals in a group will soon result in the collapse of the entire body.
What is the enemy of unity?
The obvious answer is “disunity”. We might think of division arising from enmity, gossip, jealousy, insecurity or selfishness. However, what is not so evident is that disbelief destroys unity. Ours is a union based on faith. We are not banded together through gender, race or class for in Him, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither rich nor poor, male nor female. In fact, believing together, we are rather unstoppable. Remember the animated movie “Prince of Egypt”? The theme song, “You will when you believe?" suggests that you will achieve great things when you believe.
If it is through the Holy Spirit that we proclaim Jesus is Lord, then everyone who believes will be united by the same Spirit. Disunity follows from unbelief as nothing is more destructive to unity than our lack of faith in Christ and His Church. At the Easter Vigil, the Exultet calls attention to the reality that darkness is overcome by the light of faith. When our faith is fragmented, then darkness will grow.
The Night Prayer before we sleep points out that the Devil like a prowling lion goes in search of souls to devour. Disunity isolates which makes it is easier for the Devil to succeed. Think of so many of our youths studying in “pagan Christian” countries with no involvement in the local Church communities. How many have succumbed?
Prayers of faith and for unity are antidotes to prevent us from disbelief. More than ever the Church needs to ground the faith of her sons and daughters and also to strengthen the unity that exists. What renders it difficult is the breakdown of common understanding or shared worldviews. Under the canon of diversity, almost every idea is to be respected and accepted. Otherwise there will be criticisms of bigotry or prejudice.
Division remains our Achilles’ Heels. How can we convince the world that the Lord wants to save us? How can those who are waiting for the grace of the Gospel come to the knowledge of Christ if we are disunited? Our disunity is a source of scandal and shame. Despite this, the Christian must labour. Not on his or her own. We labour with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. We beseech the Lord to send us His Spirit to mould and to shape us into His servants. Secondly, servitude or docility to the Holy Spirit requires humility on our part especially when everyone is supposedly a “guru” or an expert or better still these days, the “pope”.
Jesus established the Church through the Spirit. Thus, the Church especially in her magisterium is we where we can find authenticity and authority of Christ’s teaching because the Church reflects Christ. It is almost impossible to believe this statement if we know the politics involved. Think of the manoeuvring hidden in the struggle of ascendancy. Naturally, we may feel let down by the failures of Church moral leadership. There are some who believe that they know more than the Pope or the Bishops. The point is, human frailty does not invalidate the truth of the Holy Spirit’s role in the Church because the Father through His Son has sent the Holy Spirit to be the guarantor that the Church be truly a reflexion of Christ. As St Irenaeus proclaimed in the 2nd Century “for where the Church is, there also is God’s Spirit, and where the Spirit of God is, there are also the Church and all grace”.
