The month of November is traditionally dedicated to prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. A theme which is very much linked to this is that of the Communion of Saints: the mysterious communion in holiness which pervades the Church, which indeed “is the Church” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 946). We give this mystical union a special name, that of “communion” (in Latin communio and in Greek koinonia). It lies at the very core of the Church; it is the love which springs from the heart of God the Father and is poured out on the world through the Holy Spirit given us by Christ (cf. Rom. 5: 5). One of the effects of this communio is the visible union of Christians with one another. Christ prayed for such union in the Garden of Gethsemane: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (John 17: 20-21). Jesus presents unity as the quality of the Church which would make credible her claim to a divine origin.
In the light of this we must look at the work of the devil in the world. The devil seeks to divide. His very name comes from the Greek verb diabolein, to accuse, divide, break apart. His object is the very antithesis of communion; it is to divide men from God in the first place, spouses from one another, children from their parents, communities into factions, and whole countries into fratricidal strife. And the Church is not immune of course from the action of the devil; quite the contrary: she is his principal target. Recently the Holy Father has reminded of this quite forcefully in a homily given on September 11 in Rome. In it he spoke of the devil as the “Great Accuser” “who is always going about to accuse us before God, to destroy. Satan: he is the ‘Great Accuser’. And when I enter into this logic of accusing, of cursing, seeking to do evil to others, I enter into the logic of the ‘Great Accuser’ who is the ‘Destroyer,’ who does not know the word mercy, does not know, has never lived it.”
In the Church, the visible unity – which is the living out of communio – has as its focus and source the Holy Father, who is uniquely “the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful” (CCC 882). We Catholics must remind ourselves of this frequently, and especially now when the spirit of accusation seems to be sweeping through society.
It appears to me that the trauma the Church has experienced here in Ireland over the past years has had one very positive side-effect: that of uniting Catholics with one another. The intense opposition that we experience coming from without has made us realise to some degree that unity – communio – is more important than ever. St Josemaría Escrivá went as far as to call the fomenting of unity within the Church as the “principal apostolate” of Christians: “The principal apostolate we Christians must carry out in the world, and the best witness we can give of our faith, is to help bring about a climate of genuine charity within the Church” (Friends of God, 226). Before we make a remark about the Holy Father or other ecclesiastics, or indeed about any entity within the Church, we would do well to ask ourselves: will this remark warm or chill the charity Christ prayed for to be the hallmark of his Church?