Unity Is A Gift Of The Holy Spirit – Pentecost Sunday – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; May 19, 2024

Recently, a friend of mine mentioned his mother’s oft repeated expression, “Unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit.”

That is an expression worth commenting on because there is quite a lot hidden in the simplicity of the statement.

First, if unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit, then evidently confusion and division have a contrary source. Pentecost is the opposite of the tower of Babel.

Second, this means that unity is a divine work rather than a human work.  Being a divine gift, however, does not mean that it just happens without our doing anything. We must desire the gift, receive the gift, and cooperate with the gift. Taking part in a divine work is not something easy, though the help of the Holy Spirit, “in our labor, rest most sweet”, gives the work the lightness of a labor of love.

Consider the oft heard sentiment, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

That is spoken as though “Just getting along” were something easy and obvious, a human work and an easy human work at that. If we think something is easy, then we will not be motivated to put a lot of effort into it; we might easily postpone the effort needed because it can just as easily be done tomorrow.

Yet, if we consider the experience of human history, the history of families, and even the history of the Church, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, it turns out that “getting along” is not so easy.

Indeed, how can we “get along” with others when we do not even “get along” with ourselves. Yes, it turns out that getting along with ourselves is not so easy. If we are honest, we recognize that we experience conflict and disharmony in our own interior. St. James wrote: Where do the wars and conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members. (Jm 4:1) Our very flesh is unruly and divided.

And today we heard the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other. In other words, someone who is striving to live in accordance with the impulse of the Holy Spirit will meet with conflict and resistance from the “flesh” of his fallen nature, the impulse to sin that is the inheritance of the children of Adam, which is exacerbated by our active participation in that inheritance.

That also tells us that there will be a true unity, a true “getting along”, that stands in opposition to a false and apparent unity, a mere unity of the “flesh”. Within our own soul that true unity, the work of the Holy Spirit, is found when the Holy Spirit reigns in our soul, when the impulse of the Spirit is victorious over the impulse of the flesh, even though we still experience the rebellious impulse of the flesh. So also, in the life of the Church and the world, true unity is found among those who are brought together by the Holy Spirit, even if they suffer persecution from the “worldly” who are slaves of the flesh. In the words of St. Paul, All who seek to live devoutly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Tim 3:12)

Then we could consider the example of a symphony orchestra. There all the instruments “get along” and produce such beautiful music. But what work is involved? How much training must each musician undergo and how many rehearsals together are required? And, on top of that, the musicians all actually want to play beautiful music together.

Well, in the whole of human life, I think that “getting along” requires a lot more work and, without the presence of the Holy Spirit, people do not even want to live together in peace and harmony. Rather, whatever their fine words, they are more intent on pursuing their selfish interests. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire, the skill, and the training we need.

Following upon that lament about our not being able to just “get along” there is another common sentiment about focusing on what we have in common, rather than on our differences.

It sounds good. I mean, don’t we all have a lot in common, just as human beings? Maybe we do, in truth, but to what extent do we all, or even most people, recognize what it is we truly have in common? Or, when it comes down to it, does it turn out rather that what we all agree to, what we recognize in common, is rather vague and nebulous?

Still, the sentiment of focusing on what we have in common does point us in the right direction: “getting along”, “unity”, must be based on some good in which we all share, a true “common good”.

Now often, what is proposed as our common good is our very humanity, but this turns out to be insufficient not only because we actually disagree about what it means to be human, but also because humanity is itself fallen, wounded, and sinful. Wounded nature needs the healing, transformation, and elevation that come from the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Even less can we be united in the good of our “common home” which is a material, temporal good, which must rather serve the good of our humanity.

So the good that unites us can be neither our humanity itself, nor the care for our “common home”, but rather it must be found first in the common recognition of the good proper to our human nature. We need not a lowest common denominator but the highest common good, the good to which the Holy Spirit leads us. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. (Rm 8:14)

Recently, I referred to that expression from our Declaration of Independence, “the right to the pursuit of happiness.” It fails to tell us where happiness lies and if it is even found in the same thing for all men.” “Getting along” depends on the answer to those questions. That answer presupposes human nature, but goes beyond it, because God has called us to a supernatural good of grace.

Now, in Europe of the Middle Ages, there was a common recognition of the good of human nature and the answer to the question of the happiness to be pursued, and even as to the means to attain that happiness. There was a common faith in Christ and the supreme good of eternal life in the vision of God, to which this life is ordered.

And still there were wars and divisions. “Getting along” is not easy.

Indeed, the modern world, which is practically founded on a rejection of the Catholic Middle Ages, points to those wars and divisions and says, “See, it was all a failure. The Catholic faith failed. Just look at all the violence and corruption in the Middle Ages.”

Then the modern world tells us, as Catholics, “Now we must try something different. Now, instead of building on the foundation of a superstitious faith, held only by a few, we must build on the foundations of scientific reason, recognized and accepted by all; now, rather than holding people bound by the profession of faith, everyone must be free to ‘think for themselves’ and determine each one for himself what is the truth.”

In other words, the builders of the modern world have rejected the foundation of Jesus Christ, the living stone, and have sought to build unity and peace on another foundation. (cf. 1 Pe 2:4-8)

Where has that gotten us? Wars and division have by no means disappeared; the modern project has to its credit two world wars and nuclear weapons. If there has not yet been an outright third world war that has not been prevented by the fear of God, but by fear of nuclear destruction. Further, we have reached such a degree of confusion that we no longer know what it means to be a man or woman, much less what it means to be a human being.

Unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit, given us by Jesus Christ.

The failure of the Middle Ages was not found in adherence to the Catholic faith, but because people – and especially the powerful, both princes and priests – failed to live by the faith professed. Those who believed in Christ failed to live by the gift of the Holy Spirit received in baptism; they failed to master, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the impulse of the flesh.

St. Paul wrote: There is one body (the Body of Christ, which is the visible Church), one spirit (the Holy Spirit who dwells in the Church as in a temple), just as you were all called to the one hope that belongs to your call (the hope of eternal life and the vision of God), one Lord (Jesus Christ), one faith (centered on Jesus Christ and summarized in the creed), one baptism (which gives entry into the one Catholic religion). (Eph 4:4-5) The Catholic Middle Ages had all that, shared in all that as a true, definite, and solid, common good, but people failed to follow St. Paul’s introductory exhortation: Be eager – this is a holy eagerness, the work of the Holy Spirit – to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3) Part of the problem was that many succumbed to the temptation to separate life in the Holy Spirit from living within the concrete, messy, human reality, of the Church.

Faith in Jesus Christ, life in the Holy Spirit, and life within the visible Church are all necessary if people are truly to “get along.”

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, does not speak on his own, but bears witness to Jesus Christ, from whom he comes, just as Jesus Christ does not speak on his own, but bears witness to the Father. The original “tradition” consists of the handing on of the divine nature within the mystery of the inseparable Holy Trinity. Through the Holy Spirit that tradition is extended to us, through the handing on of the life of grace in the Church, a handing on that takes place effectively through the sacraments, received in faith.

Unity in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, does not just happen. There is preparatory work to be done; the disciples must all be gathered into one place, and that means more than just being physically present in the same room. The physical place today is whatever place the holy sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated, but more is needed than just bodies in pews.

Consider the lives of the Apostles. Before Pentecost they had spent about three years with Jesus, listening to his teaching, witnessing his miracles, and observing his way of life. Here the Holy Spirit was already at work within them in a hidden manner. Even that was not enough to get them into the “one place” of Pentecost; they also needed to experience both Jesus’ death and resurrection. Only then were they ready for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

We could also use an analogy from the Old Testament. After God gave the ten commandments to the people and after he entered into a covenant with them, he gave to Moses on the mountaintop instructions regarding the construction of the tabernacle of his presence, the place where he was to receive worship. The remainder of the book of Exodus deals with the construction of that tabernacle, which also involves a period of sin and repentance. Finally, after all the materials have been made ready, Moses sets up the tabernacle and then the cloud of the divine presence, the cloud of the Holy Spirit fills the tabernacle. (Ex 40:34)

The Church, the one place in which the Holy Spirit, from Jesus Christ, dwells, is the spiritual house, the tabernacle of divine worship.

Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pe 2:4-5)

There is the unity that is the work of the Holy Spirit.

For our part, we cannot be joined to the unity of the living stone, which is Christ, unless through the preparatory work of the Holy Spirit, we are made into living stones, like Christ. This cannot happen if we are unwilling let the Holy Spirit lead us to the crucifixion of the flesh with its passions. Only then will we truly enjoy the fruits of the Holy Spirit, including the peace, which is the perfection of unity.