VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Faith in the living God should translate into concrete expressions of love and unity, especially within the church, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis and leaders of the Roman Curia.
“All human beings want unity and desire it from the bottom of their hearts. Then why is it so difficult to achieve if everyone desires it so much? It is because we want unity of course, but unity around our point of view,” said the priest, who is preacher of the papal household.
Offering the pope and his aides an Advent reflection Dec. 14, Fr. Cantalamessa continued a series of meditations on what it should mean to believe in a living God.
In the human search for unity, he said, “our view seems so obvious, so reasonable, that we are astounded that others do not agree and insist instead on their point of view. We even carefully lay out the path for others to come and join us where we are.”
Problems and tensions arise, he said, because the other person “is doing exactly the same thing” and expecting everyone else to change.
Christians must strive to model their relationships on that of the Trinity, the living God, a community of love where absolute unity does not annul diversity, he said.
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