By Henry Aloysius Barry
The mute, inanimate world foreshadows this principle of christian harmony—the world is one; all things, in earth, sky and sea work in unison, in a consummate mechanism; "all things work together for good," says St. Paul. Even in creation, not to work together would mean no end of evil. Man is one in kind. Mortal pain illumines the bond. Christianity is one, "one mind, one heart." The blood of Christ seals this union enacted by His nativity, life and teaching. With Him we form one body. Redemption lays upon us the obligation of union with our fellows, union in multiplicity, that is to say, charity—real, deep, complete, one that enfolds in its ardent embrace deity and humanity.
The Holy Ghost is distinct from the Father and the Son, yet, the eternal divine Unity is unimpaired. We, God's children.are cut up into distinct walks in life. Have we part parted with christian union? Have we broken the chain that should bind all men in one family, like a sheaf? Has our particular state in life weakened the bond of sympathy with the broad and scattered groups and members of the human family and especially of the christian household? When attention is called to the lack of sympathy or what looks like friction between the members of one religious body and the adherents of another, the usual dictum of the philosophic observer is— well, you know, human nature! But in the twelfth chapter, first Corinthians, St. Paul teaches us to overcome this pettiness and selfishness. It is a sin against christian society, it defeats the end of organization. Unity is the tocsin. The Holy Ghost is the centre of this triumphant, irresistible organization in the christian forces. Each christian is not to combat alone, but shoulder to shoulder with his fellow christian. Each organization or order is not to combat absolutely alone or in the odious sense of too great unsympathetic exclusiveness, but phalanx to phalanx in an esprit de corps. The community idea of religious founders operates for the perfection of charity: we should enlarge this to the idea of the christian community. Our enemies are united; let us be a unit for this and more positive aDd lofty reasons. "Now there are diversities of grace but the same spirit, there are diversities of ministers but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operation but the same God, Who worketh all in all." "To one, indeed, by the spirit, is given the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same spirit. To another, faith in the same spirit, to another, prophecy, to another, diverse kinds of tongues," etc. But all these things, "one and the same spirit worketh, unto everyone according as he will"—to sovereign pontiffs, to bishops, to priests, to Dominican, to Franciscan, to Jesuit, to individual saints, different graces, ministrations, operations, manifestations of the spirit. St. Paul goes on to checkmate pride and selfishness, whether corporate or personal, that seeks too much isolation from the body. The right arm or the eye is ashamed of the poor toe. "In one spirit were we all baptized into one body.
The mute, inanimate world foreshadows this principle of christian harmony—the world is one; all things, in earth, sky and sea work in unison, in a consummate mechanism; "all things work together for good," says St. Paul. Even in creation, not to work together would mean no end of evil. Man is one in kind. Mortal pain illumines the bond. Christianity is one, "one mind, one heart." The blood of Christ seals this union enacted by His nativity, life and teaching. With Him we form one body. Redemption lays upon us the obligation of union with our fellows, union in multiplicity, that is to say, charity—real, deep, complete, one that enfolds in its ardent embrace deity and humanity.
The Holy Ghost is distinct from the Father and the Son, yet, the eternal divine Unity is unimpaired. We, God's children.are cut up into distinct walks in life. Have we part parted with christian union? Have we broken the chain that should bind all men in one family, like a sheaf? Has our particular state in life weakened the bond of sympathy with the broad and scattered groups and members of the human family and especially of the christian household? When attention is called to the lack of sympathy or what looks like friction between the members of one religious body and the adherents of another, the usual dictum of the philosophic observer is— well, you know, human nature! But in the twelfth chapter, first Corinthians, St. Paul teaches us to overcome this pettiness and selfishness. It is a sin against christian society, it defeats the end of organization. Unity is the tocsin. The Holy Ghost is the centre of this triumphant, irresistible organization in the christian forces. Each christian is not to combat alone, but shoulder to shoulder with his fellow christian. Each organization or order is not to combat absolutely alone or in the odious sense of too great unsympathetic exclusiveness, but phalanx to phalanx in an esprit de corps. The community idea of religious founders operates for the perfection of charity: we should enlarge this to the idea of the christian community. Our enemies are united; let us be a unit for this and more positive aDd lofty reasons. "Now there are diversities of grace but the same spirit, there are diversities of ministers but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operation but the same God, Who worketh all in all." "To one, indeed, by the spirit, is given the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same spirit. To another, faith in the same spirit, to another, prophecy, to another, diverse kinds of tongues," etc. But all these things, "one and the same spirit worketh, unto everyone according as he will"—to sovereign pontiffs, to bishops, to priests, to Dominican, to Franciscan, to Jesuit, to individual saints, different graces, ministrations, operations, manifestations of the spirit. St. Paul goes on to checkmate pride and selfishness, whether corporate or personal, that seeks too much isolation from the body. The right arm or the eye is ashamed of the poor toe. "In one spirit were we all baptized into one body.
