The sacrament of unity

Pope Leo met Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare in September 2025. Source: here

Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend the annual summer ‘Mariapolis’ of the Focolare movement in Ireland.  ‘Mariapolis’ means ‘City of Mary’ and stems from the initial annual holiday retreat gatherings of the developing Focolare movement founded in Northern Italy in the 1940s by Chiara Lubich and her  companions. The movement spread across the globe in the following years.  I was actively involved for some years as a lay person in the Movement here in Ireland and stay in touch with it still.  A key emphasis of its spirituality is that unity for which Jesus prayed:

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  (John 17:20-21)

The central importance of mutual love as the basis for building the ‘City of Mary’ echoes a theme of St Augustine in ‘The City of God’ and which has been taken up recently by Pope Leo XIV in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas,:

Humanity, created by God in all its grandeur, is today facing a pivotal choice: either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together. 

Pope Leo sums up the role of the Eucharist in helping us to build a civilisation of love in this fragmented world (#88):

For the Christian community, solidarity finds its source in the mystery of Christ and is nourished by the Eucharist. Solidarity emerges from communion in faith and the Sacraments: Baptism and Confirmation unite us in Christ, so that we may become one Body and one Spirit, one heart and one soul (cf. Eph 4:4; Acts 4:32). The Eucharist, which is the sacrament of unity, nurtures our belonging to the Body of Christ and teaches us how to share. The diverse sensibilities present in the Church and the strong convictions that animate each person are a source of richness if they remain anchored in the certainty that unity is a gift received and a responsibility to be fulfilled.

United in Christ – the eucharistic witness of Saints Peter and Paul

Today is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. St Peter, the first among the Apostles, was the rock on which Jesus built his Church. Saint Paul was the Apostle who, in a particular way, brought the Gospel to the Gentiles. Both ended their lives in Rome, where they were martyred.

Tradition recognises Peter as having oversight of the early Christian community, and as the first Bishop of Rome, the beginning of a line of bishops who would lead the Church there and exercise a ministry of unity and oversight among all the churches throughout the world.

Eucharistic joy at Pentecost

The cultural and ethnic diversity of Ireland is most welcome and has greatly enriched our society. Yesterday, I attended an African cultural evening in Carlow Town. It was noisy, colourful, busy, and above all joyful. The dancing, the food, the music, and the lively chatter made it a truly memorable occasion.

There is something about African culture, as we experience it here in Ireland, that is uplifting, joyful, and community-oriented. Perhaps we have lost some of that spirit in recent years?

The mysteries of the altar

Why Relics? | St. Innocent of Alaska Orthodox Monastery

When we enter a church, we see an altar. Usually it is large and stands out, though sometimes it is more like a small table. Whatever shape or size it takes, it is the centre of worship. Tradition has also associated the altar with the place where the Eucharist is reserved – in the Tabernacle in the West, or in the Artophorion in the East. If we look more closely, however, we begin to see that there is far more here than first meets the eye.

It may be helpful to step into a setting less familiar to many of us: the sanctuary area of an Eastern Orthodox church which uses the Byzantine rites. This sacred space is normally reserved for clergy and those with a blessing, and is only partially revealed to the congregation during the Divine Liturgy when the Royal Gates are opened.

Celebrating in communion with the whole church

 

The Eucharist is not a private affair. It is the gathering of believers who come together to hear the Word of God, proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus, and receive his Body and Blood. It is an act of the whole Church. On his journey to martyrdom in Rome, sometime around 110 A.D. , Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Church at Smyrna: