By Joshua Navos, Cohort 11
The topic of unity has always fascinated me. In a world that is constantly splitting into factions, the Catholic Faith calls all Christians to live in unity. In fact, every Sunday, Catholics around the world profess the Church as “one,” emphasizing that our unity is not only meant to be incidental but is rather a divine gift.
The Church, in the document Gaudium et Spes, very clearly expresses that this same unity between the Father and the Son along with the Holy Spirit, is meant to be lived out in the lives of Christians:
“Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, ‘that all may be one. . . as we are one,’ (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God’s sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” (G&S 24:3)
The beauty of the “unity of God’s sons” has been revealed to me in many ways throughout my life, such as through the love within my family or the care of my household brothers during my time at Franciscan University. Most recently, the Lord has given me a greater knowledge of this unity through my Seton Teaching Fellows community.
I live in the North Bronx in a community of five men. Our experiences during the day differ quite a bit from each other. While I’m teaching a first-grade character lesson, Will is helping fourth graders through story problems, and Troy is assisting our multilingual learners in learning English. Some of us might be having the greatest day teaching while others might be struggling. However, we are united in our common goal: the sanctification of those placed under our care.
Our life in the house is not perfect. We each entered our STF home wounded from sin. At times, we fail to fulfill our responsibilities, and we can easily fall into complaining and despair over the state of our work. However, the unity of a community rooted in Christ does not demand the immediate perfection of its members. Our shared identity as sons of God allows us to receive the brokenness of each other, and to strive for the perfection of our Christian life.
Our shared life of love is essential to fulfilling our shared call to mission. In fact, our communal life is itself a witness to the love of God. I will never forget the moments when a disciple recognized the unity between another STF in my community and myself, to the point of thinking we were biological brothers. Even within the walls of the school building, our communal life is a tangible witness to our children of the power of God’s love to unite people of many different temperaments and personalities.
As I continue to discern what will follow my fellowship year, I know I will come away with an inexpressible gratitude for the four men the Lord has called me to live with this year. These men have shown me the face of Christ, both in His glory and His suffering. They have helped form me into the disciple I am now and will continue to grow into. The joy of Christian community is that our bonds are not only for this time on Earth. By God’s grace, our shared life will be perfected in eternity, where the fruits of our labors will be made fully manifest, and we can revel in the greatness of God’s plan for us as brothers striving for holiness.
