21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - C

by Fr. Jovy  |  08/24/2025  |  From the Clergy

In the First Reading, Isaiah claims that the time has come to bring together the people of every language and nation and to show them God’s glory. And in today's Gospel, Christ proclaims that “people will come from all the nations to feast in God’s kingdom.” It is very clear from the New Testament that Christ came for the salvation of all people. In Matthew 24:31, Jesus speaks of the “chosen from all over the earth.” In his final prayer to His Father at the Last Supper, Jesus asks His Father to grant unity to all his followers, saying “I want my followers to be one with each other, just as I am one with You, and You are one with Me.” (John 17:21) In his final mandate to His disciples just before His Ascension, Jesus ordered His disciples to “baptize the entire world.” (Matthew 28:19) It is clear that Jesus wanted unity in His Church, based on the unity of the Father and Himself. Or as St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:5, "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."

In the Encyclical (UT UNUM SINT), the restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Church: “Christ founded one Church and one Church only. In recent times, He has begun to bestow more generously upon divided Christians remorse over their divisions and longing for unity.” Pope Saint John Paul II has made it his strongest ambition to foster unity amongst Christians especially. Despite much opposition he visited Greece and the Orthodox churches of Ukraine.He had traveled to Cuba, which has lost its Christian identity to Communism. He met with the Archbishop of Canterbury. And despite his age, visited foreign countries primarily for the purpose of unity.

But as we look objectively at the world around us, we see not only a world fractured by war and enmity, but also a world of divided religions. There are over two billion Christians in the world, more than half of whom are Catholics. The others are Orthodox, Protestant or non-denominational. Of the other four billion people in the world, 800,000 are Hindu: 1,100,000,000 are of the different Muslim sects; 16,000,000 are Jewish, and the remaining world are of variant religions/sects or atheists. (Note: in America, there are 23 Baptist sects, 13 Lutheran sects, 3 different Jewish sects, 16 Pentecostal, and 5 Anglican – source: The World Almanac).

So, what can we do about it? And how can we go about this without losing faith in our own Catholic religion? Certainly, we begin by being better Christians, that is, being more loving and forgiving, more kind and more generous. Obviously, church leaders must become intimately involved in this, but Pope Saint John Paul II had definitely taken the leadership role. For example, when he visited St. Louis, he met with the leaders of most religious groups of St. Louis.

Fr. Jovy
Parochial Vicar