Our unity amid diversity

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THERE’S that funny part in the gospel where some leading Jews were accusing Christ of being “possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he drives out demons.” (Mk 3,22)

Christ, of course, saw the blatant contradiction of their reasoning. “How can Satan drive out Satan?” he said. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand,” he continued. (Mk 3,24-26)

We have to realize more deeply that the very principle of truth, unity, freedom, charity and everything that is good and proper to us can only be God. Only with him, can we have them even amid our unavoidable differences, diversity and conflicts.

We have to be wary of the possibility of being driven by unbelief, if not by hatred against God, that would surely lead us to fall into self-contradictions. Clearly, when one is driven by unbelief and hatred, his reasoning can go off the rails, and even the simplest of logic is thrown out.

We need to do everything to always strengthen our belief in God, the very cause, origin and pattern of unity amid the vast and increasing diversity and variety of elements we can have in this world.

Nowadays, we are seeing the intriguing phenomenon of asserting what is right and moral as wrong and immoral, and vice-versa. What is clearly an expression of true freedom is now called slavery, and vice-versa. What should clearly be considered as taboo is now regarded as a human right. The forms of self-contradictions go on and on.

To correct this situation or, at least, to deal properly with it, we need to take care and strengthen our belief and our charity. We cannot take this duty for granted, especially now when the world is sinking in confusion and error as it distances itself farther from God.

We have to realize that truth does not only make us free, as the gospel tells us. (cfr. Jn 8,32) The truth that comes from God also makes us live charity and unity among ourselves, even amid our severe differences and conflicts.

In fact, with this truth, we can manage to take advantage of our differences and conflicts, since a lot of good can actually be derived from them, even if we are not exempted from being pained and mortified by them.

Our differences and conflicts can actually occasion genuine love and many other virtues to develop and grow. They can purify us, smoothing out the rough edges of our personality, and fine-tuning our views, opinions and preferences.

They can give rise to the development of patience and compassion, and the pursuit for the truth and justice is guaranteed to be more authentic even if it is also arduous.

They can actually expand our world of knowledge and understanding, and trigger the dynamics of a more meaningful unity among ourselves, not in spite of but rather because of our differences and conflicts. The unity we are speaking of here is not uniformity, but one that is richly nuanced and capable of accommodating everyone.

Most importantly, they can give a tremendous growth in our spiritual life, freeing us from being at the mercy of our personal, earthly and temporal conditions. They contribute greatly in our effort to make ourselves more and more like Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com