Thursday – 32nd Week in Ordinary Time – A – Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you. Today we celebrate the beautiful memorial of Saint Josaphat, bishop and martyr, and Saint Josaphat has a lot to teach us as regards our unity with our fellow brother and sister Christians. So, as you all know, Catholics and Protestants, we all fall under the umbrella of Christian. One of the things that kind of irritates me is when a Protestant brother or sister will come up to you and ask if you're a Catholic or a Christian. No, if you're a Catholic, you are a Christian. And if you're a Protestant, you are identifying as a Christian. So, in fact, as Catholics, we believe we're the original Christians, the ones instituted by Jesus himself, but let that go. For the sake of unity, we need to love one another, be patient with one another, and keep on praying that we all embrace the truth when it is revealed to us.

Saint Josaphat was born in Volodymyr in present-day Ukraine in 1580. He entered the Basilian monastic tradition and eventually became the Archbishop of Polotsk in 1618. He dedicated his ministry to strengthening communion between the Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine tradition and the See of Rome, following the Union of Brest in 1596. His efforts encountered fierce opposition in a period of profound religious and political tensions. On the 12th of November 1623 he was killed by an angry mob in Vitebsk becoming a martyr for ecclesial unity. He was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX Josaphat reminds us that unity is not merely something we discuss but something for which we must be willing to sacrifice.

In today's first reading from Saint Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he reminds us how we are all to strive to remain in the one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Saint Paul urges Christians to preserve the unity of the Spirit through humility, gentleness, and patience. Christ gives different ministries to build up his body until all can attain to the unity of the faith. My brothers and sisters, Christian unity does not require that everyone possess identical gifts or responsibilities It does however require that everyone possess the same Spirit of humility, patience, and love. Paul reminds us that the Church is one body, although its members have different ministries, we are all nevertheless part of the same mystical body of Christ. Saint Josaphat worked for ecclesial communion while preserving the legitimate spiritual and liturgical traditions of the Christian East. So we see that unity is not uniformity, it is communion. in the one faith. It is sustained by charity.

In the gospel Jesus prays, so that they may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. Jesus prays for all future believers asking the Father that they may be united in divine love. Their unity is intended to reveal to the world that the Father sent him. My brothers and sisters, Christian unity is not simply a human project. It is the expressed desire and prayer of our Lord Jesus himself. On the eve of his passion, Jesus made that wonderful prayer that his followers may share in the communion that exists between himself and the Father. Our divisions, therefore, contradict the witness we are called to give the world. Saint Josaphat understood that communion with Christ necessarily calls us toward communion with one another.