Prayers for the Unity of the Church

We have witnessed in recent years - even decades, it seems, a greater degree of efforts aimed at disrupting the unity of the Church. Unity means that the members of the Church are united in belief of the same doctrines of revelation, and in the acknowledgment of the authority of the pastors of the Church.

St. Paul ranked schism and heresy with the crimes of murder and idolatry and he stated that these would not possess the kingdom of God (Gal 5:20, 21).

In his epistle to the Ephesians, he called for unity by exhorting, "Be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all." (Eph 4:3-6)

Unity in the governance of the Church is no less essential to the Church than that of doctrines, despite what some have been saying. Our Lord speaks of one Church - His Church. There is but one kingdom not many kingdoms.

Our Lord speaks of one fold and one shepherd (John 10:16).

St. Paul compares the Church to a human body: "For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." (Rom 12: 4-5)

The Church is compared to a vine, in which all the branches are connected to the main stem. All of the branches so connected, therefore, obtain their life and nourishment from it.

As God is one, so, too is the Church. Anyone who would knowingly and willfully withdraw from the communion of the Church, or from communion with her legitimate pastors, becomes like the withered branch and is cut off from the main vine.

The hierarchical structure of the Church has been established to maintain unity just as the body is united to the head. The faithful should be subject to their immediate Pastor, the Priests should be subordinate to the Bishop, and each Bishop should acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter.

Prayer is needed to petition our Lord to grant the graces necessary that unity be restored and that further ruptures be avoided.