Unity is the identity of the Church and the gift of the Spirit. Jesus himself prayed "that they may be one just as we are one." It's not easy to preserve the unity of the community because of diversity, differences, temperament, social and cultural background etc. The readings of the day are inviting us to make every effort to preserve the unity of the family or community.
The gospel helps us to see the importance of God's Kingdom realised in Christ and in the Church which is God's family. Jesus speaks to the crowd about cairos or fullness of time that is different from the greek word chronos which means chronological time. The fullness of time or cairos is the appointed time of God that reveals God's kingdom in the person of Christ and the Church, the Christian community (later applied for the Church). Jesus upbraids the crowd for failing to see God's kingdom in Him and His Church.
Jesus also warns the people to settle the disputes among themselves rather than taking the matter to the court. This also reflects the situation of the community where community disputes were taken to the gentile court for settlement that degraded the Church.
St. Paul in the first reading lays stress on giving importance to the unity of the community by imbibing the virtues of bearing with one another (tolerance), gentleness, selflessness, patience etc. Just as our God is one and in their unity we share ours, thus we have to make every effort to preserve it.
Dear friends, we are the part of the family and Christian community at large. We are bound together with differences. There are times of disputes, disagreements, misunderstanding etc. What is our response to them? Are we ready to find solutions to settle among ourselves such problems? Jesus himself speaks in the gospel to settle the disputes among ourselves first which may prevent something worse to come about in the community and preserve the unity of that is settled. It's difficult indeed but when we also wear the qualities of patience, gentleness, selflessness and tolerance, we will be able to overcome differences. Let's pray for the grace that we become cause of unity rather than disunity.
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