Truth – The Source of Unity

How does the mute man’s speech relate to the unity of the Kingdom?

Reading: Luke 11:14-23

The following homily was preached to the student brothers during compline. You can listen here or read below:

Jesus gives speech to a man who could not speak, and is accused of using black magic, of being in league with the Devil. Whilst he quickly refuted that accusation, he had sparked a conversation.

Neither here in Luke’s Gospel, or in Matthew or Mark, does the Lord warn this man to be silent about his deliverance. The mute man speaks and the crowd are amazed. The gift of speech to this man provokes conversation in those around him, but he doesn’t need to say anything in particular for others to see that something remarkable has happened. The mere fact of his speech says it all. It is a gift of speech which could only have come from Christ.

May Christ give us the same gift that he gave the mute man: that we could shock others, that they would just know that Christ has done something extraordinary for us. Provoking that conversation is essential if we are to bring Jesus to others. But we must prepare to startle those around us with the strangeness of what we believe. Preaching the truth may be shocking to others; it may indeed make them call us evil.

For the Church to bring Christ to others, she must be united. This Gospel is a summons to unity, without which we cannot effectively preach the truth. We heard that “The kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house.” This is true of any kingdom. It is is true too of our institutions and mission within the Church. The Church cannot evangelise the world without a deep inner unity, a unity grounded in Christ and in the truths passed on to us. This unity cannot coexist with neutrality towards Christ as whoever is not with Him is against Him. We must be firmly anchored to The Lord and to the truth in our acts and in our speech, and only then will we find the source of the Church’s unity.

We will always be tempted to abandon the truth, however, in favour of superficial unity. The Catechism states: “Before Christ’s second coming, the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.”

Let us pray therefore that we will given boldness always be united in the Truth, and always to bring Jesus to others.

Lord, give us too the power of speech.

Image: ‘Exorcising a boy possessed by a demon’, from The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, 15th century (Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry)