Uniting The Church

These are tumultuous times for our Church.  Controversy over doctrine, morality;  internal, personal scandals and external pressures from actual physical persecution to the media's barrages, direct or subtle seem to indicate that the Church is full of divisive cracks enough to make it tumble into ruin.  A calm look at history reveals that even at the very beginning, there was division.  Yesterday, we heard the decision of the "Council of Jerusalem regarding the admission of Gentiles directly into the Church without having to be circumcised.  Today we celebrate St. Athanasius, who defended the creed of the Council of Nicea against the Arians, whose teachings, so divisive for a couple of centuries, finally disappeared.  Pope Francis is taking bold steps to address the pressing issues of our times, the ones the press has deemed so pressing, and his statements, sometimes unclear, have given food to the media to press their point of view and play up the current divisions.  Through all of this we need to trust the promise of Jesus at the ascension, "I am with you to the end of the age." (Mt 28: 20).  He urged them to be witnesses and go out an preach to all the nations, guided by the Holy Spirit whom he would and did send on Pentecost.  Over the centuries there have been challenges, but through the workings of men and women over time, the truth has always emerged, for the Holy Spirit indeed works through the human process.  "It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and us..." (Acts15: 28).  May we not panic or become discouraged, for our present difficulties will be resolved; this Holy Spirit is as much with us today as in the first days of the Church.
Bro. Rene