Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 11:29-32.12:19; Mark 7:31-37)
Most people credit Abraham Lincoln for ending slavery in the
United States. He is rightly seen as the
great emancipator of African slaves. However,
more important than that feat, which was not accomplished until after his assassination,
was Lincoln’s saving the country from division.
Lincoln himself saw the preservation of the Union as essential. He wrote in a famous letter published in the New
York Times during the Civil War: “My paramount object in this
struggle is to save the Union, and is not either
to save or to destroy slavery.” Lincoln
knew that the end of slavery was inevitable.
He also knew that it would come about more easily and completely with
the Union intact. Unions of people and
states allow dialogue, which fosters understanding, which brings about the give
and take of compromise. For this reason,
the breakup of the Kingdom of Israel signified in today’s first reading is
tragic.
The union of the northern tribes and southern tribes was
never easy. It was accomplished by
David, a strongman with an impressive faith in God as well as political
shrewdness. Its coming apart with David’s
grandsons led to strategic weakness vis-à-vis the other nations of the region. The gradual corruption of the leaders of both
northern and southern kingdoms contributed to the downfalls of the kingdoms and
the exiles of their peoples.
Our Catholic Church today is threatened by calls and acts of
separation on both the right and the left.
The proverbial “man in the middle” is Pope Leo. His mandate is not only to keep the Church
together while seeking reunification with Orthodox churches and Protestant ecclesial
communities. He must accomplish these
feats without betraying the apostolic tradition. We can assist his efforts by prayer and also
by developing restraint in judgment of others and by reaching out in honest
dialogue with those who disagree with us.
