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The Community at Prayer
Reflection by Father Paul M. Baca
October 16, 2011, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

E Pluribus Unum (Though Many We Are One) Motto of the United States

As I prepared for my Mass this morning, Monday, the 10th of October, I took notice of something in the opening prayer that really got my attention. It was a petition asking for a deliverance from our prejudices and I realized how all of us have our prejudices in varying degrees about many subjects. I believe that prejudices really pull people apart and the 'us and them' mentality that seems to be a way of life plays right into the hands of those who want to drive wedges and keep us apart in any effort to work together for the common good. Politicians are very good at this, using political parties and issues that can be manipulated.

     When I think of prejudices, the words of Jesus to his Father come to my mind, "I pray that they may be one as we are one, that they may be one with us. The importance of unity is evident in the family unit primarily and it is not difficult at all to see the devastation in a family that is pulled apart. The very difficult days of the Great Depression come to my mind and the ability of very good families to stay together was always admirable. I remember how so often we heard, "The family that prays together stays together," and that brought to mind the family rosary prayed every evening in many poor homes. Of course, to that we can add, "The family that works together also stays together." Unity is invaluable in every circumstance. In the 60+ years that I was active in a parish I always appreciated the challenge of creating unity in the parish and fostering that unity. Once unity was attained we were able to build a church and keep parochial schools functioning in spite of the constant lack of finances. When there was no unity, there were always people who wanted different things for the parish and it was very difficult to prioritize and work for whatever was most needed. As I started my parish work, knowing the absolute necessity of unity, the way of bringing about unity was always a challenge, but when attained, it was always the way to success.

     All of this makes me appreciate the fact that we are but one human family and united this one human family is capable of attaining many wonderful things for every one of its members. However, we are all different, coming from different ethnic groups, countries, religions, etc. and these differences can easily give rise to differences that find expression in prejudices. Almighty God who created us is a loving mother/father of the whole human family. That is why we pray, "Our Father," and not "My Father."

     If the prayer of Jesus for unity would become a reality, then the whole of human history would have to be rewritten, and it is nice to imagine what that history would be like. I guess we can conclude by asking ourselves, How easily do I allow myself to be tripped by needless prejudice?