Beauty, strength, but also a specific goal is unity.

When we walk through nature these May days, we see many a beautiful sight of meadows in bloom. Although there is not just one kind of flower in the field, not just one color, we feel a fantastic beauty when we look at the flowers. From that sight, one can take away an experience that will strengthen him in his life. And in such an experience, looking at a meadow in bloom, we have the feeling that all this together forms unity. There is nothing there for itself, and our reason quietly recognizes that in that beauty, in the power that flows from it, in that unity of color, we feel one goal: to love God and glorify, to worship Him. When the beauty of nature brings us to these thoughts, all the more should we reflect today on the words of the Gospel?

Jesus prayed, “But I pray not only for them, but also for those who through their word will believe in me, that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you…” (Jn 17:20-21).

These are the final words of the Lord Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper, addressed to His Father and our Father. The Lord Jesus turned to His Father in a beautiful prayer at the end of the Last Supper for the Apostles when He left them the lavish gifts, namely: the Holy Mass, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the Sacrament of the Priesthood. He is going to the Mount of Olives. What is hidden in these words? What is so dear to the heart of Christ shortly before his death?
They are words in which we can find a value that cannot be replaced. We learn of the great love that Jesus has for all people, of his plea to the Father to allow him to carry out his plan of love with which he has enriched the whole world. Right at the beginning of his prayer, we hear that Jesus is not only praying for his apostles who were present at the Last Supper but equally for all who will believe the words of the apostles and thus believe in him. The Lord Jesus prays for all people who, by the end of the world, will believe that he is the Son of God, under the influence of hearing the word of God. He was thinking of us at that time. This is what He prayed for in that difficult moment: “…that they may all be one…” (Jn 17:21). As if to say that the greater the danger for believers, the more alive and firm their faith would be.

Jesus knew of the difficulties awaiting his faithful. In a few words, the Lord Jesus gives a pattern, an action guide to preserving unity still sought and never perfectly attained. The unity that is to come about among us is to be like the unity found between the Father and the Son of God: “…as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee…” (Jn 17:21).
Can we imagine a more perfect union, a harmony, than that between the Father and the Son? Unity is the essence of Jesus’ prayer request that there be a similar unity between us, the Son and the Father.

In the next part of the prayer, the Lord Jesus asks, “… that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me” (Jn 17:23). With this prayer, the Lord Jesus first wanted to tell us how much He loves us, that it is the kind of love with which The Father loves him. Further, we know from Jesus’ words that the Father will hear his petition: “… that they may all be one…” (Jn 17:21). At the same time, Jesus tells how this will happen. It will be in the expression of love for one another. “I have declared your name to them, and I will declare that the love with which you love me may be in them and that I may be in them” (Jn 17:26).
Thus we understand that unity is a consequence of our faith in Christ and that man could not achieve it by his efforts. Unity is a gift from God, which we are to ask for through the Holy Spirit. Then, the world and we will find it worthwhile to cooperate with God. This prayer does not enclose only the elect in its value, for Jesus is interested in all people being enriched in union with him. Jesus desires that all will one day reach that place, “… be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me…” (Jn 17:24).
We see these words realized in St. Stephen when, at the stoning, he cries out: “I see heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
The will of the Lord Jesus was fulfilled on Stephen. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, through whom he sees and understands something. He is already happy; he knows that Jesus is waiting for him. And in this love, Stephen also wishes for and thus expresses the unity of which Jesus’ prayer speaks: “Lord, do not impute this sin to them” (Acts 7:60). These are the words with which Stephen wishes even his murderers, even though they hate him, that love and unity may prevail and that they too may one day come to the place that is the reward of those who strive for unity in love. The end of Jesus’ prayer says that the world does not yet know the Father. Jesus has yet to introduce him to the world, which he will do after his resurrection.
Stephen’s prayer is similar to the blessing of the Lord Jesus. He asks for unity permeated with love: Lord, do not impute this sin to them. Is there a better way to express Stephen’s love for Christ when he prays for his murderers?

Stephen’s behavior is a tremendous outreach and example to us. Stephen not only knew the purpose of Jesus’ prayer for unity and love among us, but he put it into practice at the most challenging moment of his life. He prayed for unity. We today feel that this is a great strength for us, and we see something beautiful in it when a man loves even in the hour of death his murderers and wishes that they too may one day dwell with Him in eternity.

When we observe humanity today, we find that it has never longed for unity and peace as much as it does today. Even though the bacillus of callousness, hatred, indifference, and others want to take hold of the world. But goodwill is also growing.
We see it in sports where racial discrimination is eliminated and other actions where the nation tries to help the country out of terrible cataclysms. Think of Armenia, the drought in Africa… The world seems to be maturing spiritually, even if it is slow-going. The world seems to be awakening its conscience and the dignity of man. The Church is also constantly striving, through the words of the Holy Father and the prayers of the faithful, to fulfill Christ’s prayer, “… that all may be one…” (Jn 17:21).

After the last war, in the Italian town of Cella di Varci, a church was built to mourn the destruction of churches worldwide. In 1952, the local parish priest appealed to mayors, bishops, and priests worldwide to send materials for this church. He received 60 replies. There was material from Poland and Japan. The church had a name: Church of the Brethren. The altar was from the demolished church in Hiroshima. It is decorated with a cross made of guns, bayonets, and knives. There is a crown of thorns made from the wire of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the halo is a kind of ring used for torture in the Congo. The church speaks in plain language: Unity must prevail among us! Because only unity brings love, and love is a force with a goal, and that goal is stunning: eternal bliss, life without end, life eternal…

For us, it means to be able to forgive, forget, learn to forgive, to be able to open our fists, refrain from saying a word, and fill our minds with love.

Even the sight of us human beings is like a meadow in bloom. We are all different; in color, nature, education, ideology, age, and gender, but we should all be filled with the idea of unity because there is strength in unity, and from unity, beauty is born.