The World’s Deepest Yearnings

As I write this it is the 19th of January 2021. My last blog post was over a year ago. My good intentions were to do a monthly post, and I am sorry that I didn’t. But what a year 2020 was! I was swept up in the many changes that took place, and here we are.

So, where have we been since January 2020 as a world? A global pandemic that has changed most people in some way or another is perhaps front and center for many. The tensions in the nations have increased. It can feel, and perhaps is indeed so, that darkness in the world increases.

If I reflect on the past year, I also see how the Lord has used many things for good — the inability to meet physically has meant that there are many online meetings. . .but this has also meant more meetings, and many projects have really accelerated, not slowed down!

But today is January 19, 2021. We just began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – an annual event where believers from all denominations are invited to come together and pray for the unity that God intends.

But today is January 19, 2021. I am repeating this intentionally. Tomorrow is Inauguration Day in the United States of America. Never in my life have I felt that the United States was heading towards actual civil war. Until now.

President Elect Biden has announced that he wants to restore unity in the United States. I believe he has the intention to do this. I do not personally believe that he can achieve this, because I do not believe unity can be achieved with human strength or political strategies.

And so on this day, January 19, 2021, I am beginning a series of reflections about the very title of this website “Spirituality of Communion.” This has become a kind of cornerstone for me in my own life — something I keep coming back to again and again. The term comes from Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, (NMI) paragraph 43, written in 2001. In this 20th year of the NMI, let us reflect on the wisdom of this paragraph, which is rooted in Scripture. I believe it can give us some light in these difficult times towards true unity.

The title of this article is “The World’s Deepest Yearnings.” I take it from the opening section of article 43 of Novo Millennio Ineunte. John Paul II wrote, “To make the Church the home and school of communion; that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we wish to be faithful to God’s plan and respond to the world deepest yearnings.”

There is much to reflect on in this opening statement, but I want to focus on two elements, the witness of believers and the deep yearning of people around us.

Novo Millennio Ineunte was written as a kind of 1000 year plan for the church. We are used to companies, communities, groups coming up with five-year plans. But John Paul II, as the Bishop of Rome, looked a different areas in the church that need attention as we came into the third millennium.

He says the great challenge for us is for the church to become the “home and school of communion.” Think about this. That is a tall order! Communion in this sense is unity, koinonia, community. If we are honest we must admit that the church is not yet the home of communion, much less the school of communion. For the sake of discussion, here and in future writings, I will change the word “church” to “body of believers.” This includes all who believe that Jesus is Lord: all Christian denominations and Messianic Jews.

Let’s get specific. Have we achieved unity in the world wide body of believers? Far from it. Have we achieved unity in the Roman Catholic Church? Far from it. Have we achieved unity in our Dioceses? Far from it. Have we achieved unity in our local parishes? Far from it. For those who are not Catholic: Is there unity in your denomination? Is there unity in your local community with whom you worship?

Hmm. . .so this is indeed a challenge as the Pope wrote. But why is it important? The Pope answers by saying that we must face this challenge if we “wish to be faithful to God’s plan and respond to the world’s deepest yearnings.” Our unity is a witness to the world, and we are failing quite miserably. We thank the Lord that He is faithful in spite of us.

Being “faithful to God’s plan” deserves its own blog entry, and so it shall be. But first let’s focus on “the world’s deepest yearnings,” because I think this speaks to the world situation of January 19, 2021.

The Pope doesn’t define what the deep yearnings of the world are, but if we read this in context, I think we can assume that he is talking about communion, unity, koinonia. Humans were not created to be alone; we realize this in the first chapters of Genesis. We yearn for peace and unity. This is even written in our bodies — because we were made in the image and likeness of God, who is Himself unity! Pope John Paul II taught so wonderfully about this is his Theology of the Body.

How much pain is in the world today because we are yearning for communion, for unity, for fellowship? Because of Covid 19 restrictions we cannot physically meet, we cannot hug, we cannot be with our loved ones in many of their most difficult moments. How many people have died alone in this crisis? On top of this, we want people to AGREE with us, to be one with us in our views, and this many believe, will bring peace. I suspect that Biden’s efforts towards unity will not really satisfy the majority of those who didn’t vote for him. So what is the answer in this lonely lonely world, in a time when people are both missing normalcy in relationships (being physically together) and even a real chance to dialogue about that which we disagree? The virus mutates and we are more polarized. Yet Yeshua (Jesus) prayed for unity, and so it will be.

The only answer for division is reconciliation, and our fearless leader in this is our Lord and Messiah, Yeshua. I call Him by His Hebrew name because I think it is important in knowing who He truly is. Ephesians 2:14, which has a lot to do with God’s plan (hence the need for another blog entry) says, “For He is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through His flesh. . .”

This verse is specifically talking about the division between Jew and Gentile, but I believe the principles remain the same in the division and strife we experience now. He is our peace. He breaks down the walls. He does it through His flesh — the perfect gift of self that He made of Himself on the cross.

Friends, it is January 19, 2021. Covid 19 hasn’t gone. Rumors of violence circulate before the day of Inauguration. Political uncertainty increases all over the world.

May we who are believers in Jesus, in Yeshua, take even small steps today to respond to the challenge to be a home and school of communion.

Repent. Forgive. Reconcile. Focus on the good. Remove the splinter from your own eye first. . .

Stop blaming. Stop justifying bad actions. Stop holding grudges. Stop focusing on the darkness.

And may we have hope in Yeshua, who is our peace. He has the answer. We must seek Him, His ways, His solutions.

I bless you all from Hainburg, Austria, and would love to hear back from you!

Sr. Mary Paul