Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 4:1-6; Luke
12:54-59)
We live in an age of
expressive individualism. It is not that
everyone wants to be different, but many want to choose their group of
identity. Within that group each person wants
to shine as superior or unique. This is
hardly the unity to which today’s first reading calls Christians.
The Letter to the
Ephesians exhorts Christians to take to heart the body to which Baptism has
made them members. They are to love other
members of this body and to practice its underlying principles and precepts. In these ways the body will attract other members,
bringing about greater unity in the world.
These are two
competing spirits – expressive individualism and Christian unity. We must choose between them. It is not that those who opt for Christian
unity lose their individuality but that they see one another as friends not
rivals.
