Unity in Our Diversity

By DEACON ROBERT YERHOT, MSW

There are many languages and cultures. There are many roads to travel, many things to do, and many vocations to which one may be called. This is all very pleasing to God.

There are also many wounds and divisions. There is much misunderstanding and confusion of what is true and good. People are walking away from the Church and the practice of their faith. This must be of great concern to us. It should especially be of great concern to all deacons, men who are sacramentally called to suffer the realities of division so as to be men of reconciliation and unity.

On Pentecost, we are reminded we need not remain divided. We can rejoice in our diversity and embrace our catholicity. We can overcome our sinful divisions. The Father sends us the Holy Spirit to strengthen, encourage and unite us.

There is one faith we embrace and one Truth for which we search. There is one Church, one Body, and one People of God. The Holy Spirit has been poured into our lives bringing forgiveness and peace. In midst of the goodness of diversity - and the evils of division and sin - the Holy Spirit unites us and heals us. He conquers our fears, dispels our doubts, and rejoices in our diversity as a Church. He teaches us the truth. He lives within us. We can recognize his presence through his goodness. He fills us with his strength. He ultimately conquers our fears, and heals our divisions. The Holy Spirit bridges all divisions.

Yes, we are diverse and one in God’s eyes. There is goodness in our diversity, but we are one body, and have but one Spirit from whom we must never separate ourselves. The reconciliation which the Holy Spirit gives is superior to any divisions among us. We must not deny what is most important, our unity, by fighting over our differences.

Just as flour alone cannot become a single loaf without water, so too the Holy Spirit unites us. Just as a field cannot yield a harvest without rain, so too we

cannot bear good fruit without the Holy Spirit raining down on us from above. Just as we cannot recover from serious illness without the proper medicine, so too we cannot rid ourselves of Satan and sin and division without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Deacons, we are to be men filled with the Holy Spirit. We can be the water for the loaf, the rain in the field, and the medicine for the sick. We can reach out to those on the fringes of the Church and society. We can suffer the realities of sin and division. We can suffer their pain, their confusion, and their sin. We can heal them by bringing them back into the Church.

Unity in our diversity - may the Holy Spirit this Pentecost come in powerful ways to accomplish just that!

Deacon Robert Yerhot serves the parishes of St. Mary in Caledonia and St. Patrick in Brownsville.