Homily of January 23, 2015: Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time (during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity): Votive Mass of All the Holy Apostles

To be with Christ and to be sent forth

St. Mark tells us that Jesus chose the Apostles to be with him and to be sent forth (Mk 3:14). In honoring the Apostles we honor the plan of God to establish an apostolic Church. This apostolic Church is identified with the  one Church, which we celebrate especially during this week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is the same Church that produces martyrs like St. Vincent in the third and fourth centuries and disciples of charity like St. Marianne Cope in the 19th and 20th centuries. In fidelity to the Church of the Apostles we strive to promote the unity of the Church. The Second Vatican Council earnestly invites us to promote spiritual ecumenism, which is the soul of the whole ecumenical movement and which consists in a change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians.