Called to Be One
“I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say,
and that there be no divisions among you,
but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”1 Corinthians 1:10
Unity is something that all Christians ought to pray for and help realize. Saint Paul tells the Corinthians to strive for unity because they seemed to have lost sight of what was most important. They seemed to be starting to form factions and cliques. We are not to be followers of any religious leader, priest, or bishop — we are to be followers of Christ and anyone who does not preach and lead in the name and way of Christ is really leading others to themselves. Sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we preach and teach and evangelize but we fail to remember that we ought to lead them to a personal relationship with Christ and not to our personal following. We as Christians must follow Christ and only Christ for in Him we are one.
We must remember that it is Jesus who first calls us. In the Gospel we hear Jesus calling the first Apostles. He goes to the Sea of Galilee and finds fisherman and He tells them that if they follow Him, He will make them fishers of men. They leave behind their nets and followed Him. You see, Jesus comes to us in the ordinariness of life. He comes to meet us at our places of work, at our homes, at places where we find comfort, and He calls out to us and invites us on a journey that will forever change our lives. Jesus invites us to share in the very life of God — God who is three Persons in One God.
When we are baptized, we receive the gift of sanctifying grace, which is a share in God’s life, a share in that Divine Community of Love, the gift that allows us to dare share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our frail humanity. So we must remember that we who are baptized are to be one just as God is One — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus comes to us today and calls us, inviting us to be His fishermen who will cast our nets into the depths of society — to the poor, the marginalized, the forgotten, the outcast — and to share with all the Good News of His love and mercy. Let us pray to God to increase within us the desire to be one and to grant us the courage to respond generously to His call.
