The Lord wants us to be one as He and the Father are one (Jn 17:21). "It was in one Spirit" that we "were baptized into one body" (1 Cor 12:13). The source, center, and culmination of our faith is receiving and being in unity, union, and Communion with the Lord and each other.
The Lord has provided practical means for us to become one. He has given us His representative on earth, the Pope, as a center of unity (see Mt 16:18-19). Just as receiving Holy Communion is not merely a spiritualized abstraction but actually receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus, so our unity in the body of Christ is more than a spiritual attitude. Our unity is based on a relationship with the Pope in love, submission, and obedience. We celebrate this relationship on today's feast of the Chair of St. Peter. We are one with and in Christ. We are one with and through the Pope. We are one with each other. Let us celebrate our unity and the papacy.
| PRAYER: | Father, make us one by Your standards and in Your ways. |
| PROMISE: | "Be examples to the flock, not lording it over those assigned to you, so that when the chief Shepherd appears you will win for yourselves the unfading crown of glory." –1 Pt 5:3-4 |
| PRAISE: | Jesus asked St. Peter three times "Do you love me?" Peter replied three times, "Yes, Lord, you know that I do" (Jn 21:15-17). With that, Peter accepted Jesus' call to become the first Pope of the Catholic Church. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College