The Unity of Brothers

            The high point of today’s activity was in the gathering of seminarians at the Latin Patriarchate Seminary. The Latin Patriarchate, the diocese which serves Latin Rite or Roman Catholics in the Holy Land, hosted the local Franciscan, Silesian, and Missionaries of Africa seminarians as well as the pilgrims from Mundelein Seminary this evening. We played in a soccer tournament, prayed evening prayer, and ate dinner together. Our gracious hosts took care to ensure that everyone present was included in the various activities. The seminarians were greeted in both English and Italian. Vespers was celebrated in the beautiful church at the seminary using a variety of languages: Italian, French, Arabic, English and Latin. After our prayer, all of the seminarians ate dinner on the top floor of the seminary, overlooking the town of Bethlehem as night fell across the sky. Truly, this evening showed us what it means to be a member of a truly universal or Catholic Church.

            “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” So the psalmist writes in Psalm 133. This evening we truly experienced what it means to dwell with our brothers in unity. The soccer tournament embodied the best spirit of the Olympics, the youth of the nations coming together to share in the common joy of sport. As good as any universal expressions of humanity may be, whether it be the exuberance of sport, the structures of mathematics, or the sublime majesty of inspiring music, none of these can compare with the richness of being able to pray to our God as one and to share in the nourishment of body and soul. The opportunity to share games, prayer, and fellowship with others studying to be priests after the heart of Christ in the very land where Christ was born was a profoundly moving moment. Our church is blessed to cross many lands, cultures and languages in order to worship our God. On the eve of the celebration of the Immaculate Conception, I realized even more that we cross the boundaries of time as we pray with the saints in heaven to the one God who, as creator and redeemer of all, unites peoples across all those boundaries which divide us.