There is a children’s story about a farmer who had 4 children. His kids were always fighting with each other. It was impossible to get them to work together, play together, etc. If one said right, the other said left, if one said up, the other said down. He thought they would change little by little, but the older they got, the worse the situation became.
One day, this farmer decided to do something to change the situation. He wanted to teach them a lesson. He took 4 wooden stakes and tied them together. Then he called his children, starting with the youngest, and asked them to break them. The youngest could not break it. So, he asked his third child to break it, but he could not break it either. And the same for the second child and the oldest as well.
Then he untied the bundle and gave each of them a stake and told them to break it. They were able to break it. “You see,” the farmer said “you are like those stakes, if you are united it is difficult to break them, but if you are not united it is very easy to break you.”
An important truth that Jesus often teaches in the Gospel is about unity. Unity is, above all, a moral good. There is no real society without unity and this is why we, as a Church, should work for unity; we should do our part and try our best in this regard.
Unity comes from noble hearts, unity comes from sincere souls, unity comes from people who are able to renounce their own interests and desires. In short, selfishness is the worst enemy of unity. It is important not to deceive ourselves when we talk about unity. We usually think that our own ways are the best, so in order to reach unity it is necessary for everyone to understand and accept our ways. Instead of working towards unity, those who have this attitude are actually creating disunity and division.
Of course, I am not talking about doctrine or natural law, because we cannot accept doctrines against the Catholic Faith or against natural law, but rather I am talking about behaviors and attitudes. The Church is so open that in Her there is room for all kinds of people and spiritualities.
Even though one of the essential notes (characteristics) of the Church is unity (One), we still find disunity in Her, even to the point of separation and the creation of many different churches that are not the Church founded by Jesus Christ. Neither beautiful homilies nor convincing reasons are the things that create unity, but it is only charity that helps us to deny ourselves and to become selfless and that allows us to understand and accept others.
