Dealing with discord and disagreement

The history of people in their religious understanding of God is full of discord and disagreement. The texts today from the Roman CatholicLectionary point to a great paradox which involves the desire of Jesus that we all be one in the Love relationship between He and the Father and the ancient and modern zeal with which we rise to accentuate the differences in our religious practices. Friar Jude Winkler comments that the initial transgression of which Paul in accused in the passage from the Acts of the Apostles is bringing a Gentile, likely Titus, into the Temple. Most commentators would think that this would be an unlikely action of Paul, a Pharisee who would be aware of the nature of this prohibition. The religious spectrum in Jerusalem at this time, before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, was represented in the Sanhedrin by Pharisees and Sadducees. Paul used his knowledge of some of the core areas of disagreement between these groups, resurrection, spirit and angels to facilitate a confrontation which brought him from the danger to his life from the Sanhedrin to the custody of the Roman authorities. The path for Paul to bring the Good News to Rome from the religious capital of the world Jerusalem to the political capital of the world, Rome becomes the journey which Luke details in Acts. Jesus is praying what is known as the High Priestly Prayer in the text from the Gospel of John. He petitions the Father for the communion of His followers in the relationship of Love between He and the Father. This Love which abides in the Divine Relationship will abide in His followers then and now. The revelation of the means whereby we share in our journey in the glory of Jesus, presenting God as Love to others, is Life prompted by the Holy Spirit. The traditional novena prayed by the Church prior to Pentecost petitions God for the full flowering of the gifts of the Spirit in our mission as followers of the Way.