Paul talks about unity: Preserve your unity in the Spirit.James McGinnis, a St. Louis resident, tells how two children were playing on the walk-in front of his house. One was three years old; the other was five. One was on a tricycle; the other was blocking the tricycle’s movement. Both were screaming at the top of their lungs. McGinnis walked out and asked them if they were having fun. They both said that they were not. Then he asked them what they might do to have fun.
“We could take turns riding the tricycle for about ten minutes each,” the one said. When McGinnis offered to time their rides, they both smiled and got all excited. The younger one even offered to let his older brother ride first.
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How do we try to preserve family unity or friendships when something threatens them? “It takes two sides to make a lasting peace, but it takes only one to take the first step.” Edward M. Kennedy
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There is a song with the opening lines that goes like this: "I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows. I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows."
In a way, that is a good reminder for an awareness of the things we see around us. We may have seen flowers and lighted candles, sunrise and sunset, and we just pass them by without thinking or reflecting. We may have also seen many other things and passed them by without reflecting and wondering. We have seen wars, violence, oppression, injustice, poverty, death and we just pass them by. We are numbed by it and have become numbed to it. Or we have seen a smile, a helping hand, care and compassion and understanding, and we have also become indifferent to it.
Jesus is reminding us to look, to observe and to reflect on the signs in our lives and then to act on it. May this prayer of St. Francis help us in our reflection:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
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Let us Pray: Lord our God, when today’s world hungers for justice, truth and spiritual values, perhaps disguised and distorted in a form hard to recognize, open our eyes and give us your Spirit of wisdom and discernment. May we thus learn to understand this world, to feel at home in it, and to discover the stepping-stones that could lead us all to you through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Saint John of Capistrano
It has been said the Christian saints are the world’s greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine being born in the 14th century. One-third of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated the spirit of the culture and the times.
John Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough. His talents and success were great. When he was 26 he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
John’s preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren were received in the countries of central Europe as angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion.
The Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the interpretation and observance of the Rule of St. Francis. Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the “Spirituals” were freed from interference in their stricter observance.
John of Capistrano helped bring about a brief reunion with the Greek and Armenian Churches.
When the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, John was commissioned to preach a crusade for the defense of Europe. Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria, he decided to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army to Belgrade. Under the great General John Hunyadi, they gained an overwhelming victory, and the siege of Belgrade was lifted. Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy prey to an infection after the battle. He died on October 23, 1456.
