Week of Christian Unity

Today begins the annual Week of Christian Unity when Christians pray daily for the unity of the Church, a house divided since the 16th century when reformers, addressing the corruption in the Church of Rome, or for more personal reasons, as in England under King Henry VIII when he broke away from the Church of Rome.  Within our memory are the Popes John XXIII and Paul VI who wrote strong pleas for a return to unity.  Ut Unum Sint...that they may be one...the powerful encyclical of Pope John XXIII based on the priestly prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper:  (Jn 17: 21)...is still valid today, perhaps more so than ever in our gravely divided world.
A look at today's gospel, Mk 2:13-17, shows us that division appears even when a good thing has been done.  Levi just gave his his post as tax collector, took on a new name, Matthew, and became a new man.  Wanting to celebrate this change, he threw a party, inviting Jesus and his disciples, other tax collector friends as well as scribes and Pharisees.  Criticism soon made its way to the head table:  why was this man eating with tax collectors and sinners?  Matthew was extending hospitality to ALL, yet suffered for it.
The theme of this year's Church Unity Octave is hospitality, based on the hospitality shown on the island of Malta to the shipwrecked Paul, companions and crew.  "They showed us an unusual kindness...." (Acts 27: 18-28: 10)
Shouldn't this attitude of welcome be the earmark of the people of God who profess on faith, one baptism, one Lord? (cf. Eph 4:5-6).
Bro. Rene