One of the great invitations of God is that of unity. In the Most Holy Trinity we see the perfect model of the unity of love in which all people are called to participate. This unity is especially important to the Church in our call to discipleship. A call that isn’t a unity of sameness or uniformity, but rather where our differences and uniqueness are joined together to serve the greater good in the God given gifts and talents we have received and are called to nurture.
Pope St. John XXIII wrote in the Encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram On Truth, Unity and Peace in a Spirit of Charity:
“All men, then, should turn their attention away from those things that divide and separate us, and should consider how they may be joined in mutual and just regard for one another’s opinions and possessions.” (#29)
St. John XXIII did not write this document for priests specifically, but as part of the body, that serves the Church in a very specific way we can see the unity of life and love expressed as a call within a call.
Jesus prays for us in this way, “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) Unity in the Church, the family and within the priesthood are desired by God. This is the reality of humbleness in the sacrificial love and service of one to another. We can often find ourselves demanding “what is ours” in conversation, actions or insidious thought destroying unity, love and peace. As a priest the constant temptation to compare, to be better than or to degrade the blessing of brothers is a reality to be battled in seeking out priestly fraternity.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”(Mark 14:38) As priests, we promise to pray the Prayer of the Church in The Liturgy of the Hours each day for the glory of God. It is a act of humble obedience and the greatest gift at the same time. The promise is to be in unity with Christ and His Church, the reality is the exposing of our heart daily to God, where the Psalms and Canticles of Sacred Scripture (the majority of the prayers) become the daily breath we take and bring to the Eucharistic celebration. Once more St. John XXIII writes, “Let us embrace that humility of soul which elevates us to great heights, that charity which unites us with God; let us have a genuine faith in revealed mysteries. (#82) Unity is found in common prayer and common purpose. In families it is modeled as husband and wife are, in sacramental marriage, promise as one to serve and share the life now bound together through as shared understanding of each other…not as perfect but…as graced filled vessels to be blessed by and given in love.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift all of you” like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)
We are all sinners where unity seems impossible with so many people whose we disagree with on religious, political and moral matters. The unity in charity, seeing the best in one another is vital. Jesus reminds St. Peter, Satan will try to divide and conquer, but we are called to the embrace of love. To seek the best in one another and to not to avoid, but to hear the brokenness and hurt in those turn away from. St. John XXIII desire for unity comes in the love of neighbor, even the one with the barking dog, is seeking to join in a common desire: he in the companionship of the pet and you is the peace and quiet. Knowing the compromise and the decisions will be made in good will in not in setting up ever higher fences but in building a bridge of understanding. “Avoid division, shun discord, . . . encourage charity toward one another. Heed the words of Christ: ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”(#83)
Living and loving within our home, the Word of God, the Church , in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, is strange only when we do not know who laid the foundation, who has constructed the frame and who continues to prepare a place for us. Unity is a daily conversation of love, prayer and serve of spouse who knows us better than we know ourselves. The spouse who made us, formed us and called us to life.
“When We fondly call you to the unity of the Church, please observe that We are not inviting you to a strange home, but to your own, to the abode of your forefathers. Permit Us, then, to long for you all “in the heart of Christ Jesus,”[35] and to exhort you all to be mindful of your forefathers who “preached God’s word to you; contemplate the happy issue of the life they lived, and imitate their faith.””(#84)

God Bless
Fr. Mark