If you like music,
for sure your remember the famous The
Three Tenors, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti[1].
At the end of his best concert a reporter asked them about rivalry among them,
and they said there was none. But the reporter was not satisfied and kept
coming back to the issue of rivalry among the three superstars. Then Domingo
explained, “You have to put all of your concentration into opening your heart
to the music. You can’t be rivals when you’re together making music. You can’t
be rivals when you’re together making music.” As Christians are we called to be
rivals or are we called to make music together?[2].
This week we
begin the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, more simply known as Christian
Unity Week (January 18-25)[3]. You
know, the World Christian Encyclopedia
has documented 34,000 different Christian denominations, and the figure keeps
rising. Many Christian churches today spend much of their resources not in spreading
the Good News of Jesus Christ but in fighting and cannibalizing other Christian churches. To maintain their identity
and show that they are distinct from other Christian churches, they emphasize
their differences rather that the things they have in common. They fight each
other and forget that as Christians we are called to make music together in the
world. This is a misunderstanding of what Christianity is all about, as Paul
tells us in the second reading[4].
God has given us
a lot of gifts for the common good and selfishly we have used as grounds for
rivalry. As a parent, how do you feel when you bring home gifts for your
children as a way of making the whole family happy, and they start a fight.
Imagine then how God feels at the way His children are using His gifts as cause
for sibling rivalry and violence.
In our second reading
today St. Paul invites us to engage in different services and ministries
because we have different spiritual gifts. But he warns that we should not be
so engrossed in the various works we do for the Lord, that we forget the one
Lord of the work. In the various services we see diversity; in the one Lord we
see unity. Christian unity, therefore, is a unity in diversity.
The disunity in
Christianity is a scandal to the world that we are called to bring to God. It
is a scandal that weakens the Christian message and witness. What moral right have we to ask the world
to reconcile their differences when we as Christians cannot reconcile our own
differences?
Let us today ask
God’s forgiveness for all of God’s children for the sin of disunity. Let us
pray for Christian unity, and resolve to extend a hand of reconciliation and
friendship to our estranged brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Lord, hear the
prayers of your people and bring the hearts of believers together in your
praise and in common sorrow for their sins. Heal all divisions among Christians
that we may rejoice in the perfect unity of your Church and move together as
one to eternal life in your kingdom. Amen ■
[1] The Three Tenors is a name given
to the Spanish singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and the Italian singer
Luciano Pavarotti who sang in concert under this banner during the 1990s and
early 2000s (decade). The trio began their collaboration with a performance at
the ancient Baths of Caracalla, in Rome, Italy, on July 7, 1990 – the eve of
the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final. Zubin Mehta conducted the orchestra of Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino and the orchestra of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.
[2] Sunday 20th January, 2013, 2nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time. Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5. Proclaim his marvelous deeds
to all the nations - Ps 95(96):1-3, 7-10. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. John 2:1-11
[St Fabian; St Sebastian].
[3] The movement among Christians
promoting Christian unity, as everyone knows, is the ecumenical movement. It is
the Church’s attempt to practice what Our Lord prayed for on the night before
he died for us. The desire for Christian unity—which is the real spark behind
the ecumenical movement—originates in the heart of Christ. And Jesus’ fervent
desire is expressed clearly in the prayer he uttered at the Last Supper. Unity,
especially among Christians, was a theme of the papacy of John XXIII. He wanted
to change the long-standing attitude of Catholic triumphalism that stood in the
way of better relations with other denominations.
[4] Now there are varieties of
gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same
Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who
activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
