Word of life

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (Matt. 18: 20)

'EMMANUEL,' 'God is with us!' This is the extraordinary news which opens Matthew's gospel (1: 23). God has come to dwell among us through Jesus, the Emmanuel. This gospel then closes with an even greater and more astonishing promise: "I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28: 20) The presence of God among us is not limited to a certain time in history, when Jesus was physically on earth. He remains with us always .

How does he remain? Where can we find him? We can find the answer right at the heart of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus gives guidance on how to live in his community: the Church. He spoke of this a number of times: he indicated that the Church was founded on the rock of Peter. He saw it called together by his word and gathered around the Eucharist celebrated in memory of him... But here he reveals the Church's truest identity: it is Jesus himself present among those who are united in his name. We can always have him present among us. We can experience the living Church, in its deepest essence, one that is life-giving.

If He, the Risen Lord, is the one who unites believers to him and to one another, making them all his body, then every division in our families and our communities changes the face of the Church. Christ is not divided. A fragmented Church disfigures Christ, rendering it unrecognisable.

This is true also for the relationships among the different Churches and ecclesial communities. The ecumenical journey has made us aware that "there is more that unites us than divides us". Even though there are still certain doctrinal and ritual practices in which the Churches differ, "the Risen Christ lives in all of them, and is the bond that unites us".

Meeting in the name of Jesus to pray together, knowing and sharing the riches of the Christian faith, asking forgiveness of each other are the bases for overcoming many divisions. They might seem like small initiatives to us, but "nothing is small if done out of love". Jesus among us, "the source of our unity", will show us "the way to be instruments of the unity which God desires".

This is how the international committee of the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity expressed themselves in promoting this "word of life" which was written by an ecumenical group in Dublin. In fact, every year since 1968 we have all been living the same 'word of life' during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: a sign that gives hope for the path towards full and visible unity among Churches.

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

But what does it mean to be united in the name of Jesus?

It means to be united in him, in his will. We know that his deepest desire, his own commandment, is that there be mutual love among us. So, wherever there are two or more people ready to love each other in this way, ready to set aside everything in order to merit his presence, everything around them changes.

Jesus can then come into our homes, into our places of work and study, into parliaments and stadiums, and transform them. His presence will be a light to solve problems; it will bring creative solutions to personal and social situations as they arise; it will give people the courage to remain faithful to the most arduous choices and be a leaven for human life in all its different expressions. His spiritual but real presence will be there in our families, among factory workers, the mechanic shop, the construction site, he will be present among farmers in the fields, among shopkeepers and civil servants, and in every environment.

When Jesus lives in our midst because of mutual love, a love that is declared and continually renewed, his presence will be felt anew in this world and he will free it from its new slaveries. And the Holy Spirit will open up new paths for us.

Our own experience allows us to say, with gratitude to God, how true are the words I wrote many years ago, saying "If we are united, Jesus is among us. And this has value. It is worth more than any other treasure that our heart may possess. It is worth more than having a mother, father, brothers, sisters, children. It is worth more than our house, our work, our property; more than works of art in a great city like Rome; more than our business; more than nature which surrounds us with flowers and fields, the sea and the stars; more than our own soul."

What a witness can be given to the world, for example, with Gospel-based mutual love put into practice between Catholics and Armenians, Methodists and Orthodox faithful! And so today too let's live the life that he gives us, moment by moment in this mutual love.

The basic commandment is brotherly love. Everything is of value if it expresses sincere fraternal charity. Nothing has value unless is done out of love for our neighbour, for God is a Father and in His heart He has always and only His children.

Let us live to have Jesus always with us, so as to bring him into a world that does not know his peace.