One thing I've increasingly noticed is that God wants unity, while the Evil One wants division. Love is both a reciprocal act-- meaning, it requires at least two persons to exist-- and a unifying act, in that it draws and ties the persons involved into communion with one another.

God models both of these things for us.

The reciprocation part is easier to explain, so let's start there. He is three persons so that love could exist even "before time began", so-to-speak. He also created us so that He would not only have this additional way of expressing His love, but so that His creation-- us!-- can love Him back.

How does He model unity then?

While God is three discrete persons, the three persons of God share the same nature, or essence. All three persons are perfectly omniscient and whole: none of the three has something the others don't have, because that would imply that something is lacking in the others.

In other words, God models perfect communion-- a communion born via the exchange of love.

Being imperfect, we can't model God exactly in this regard. It is impossible for us, due to our fallen natures, to share natures: as humans, each of our essences has a one-to-one relationship with our person.

But God doesn't expect of us perfection! That's why He's infinitely merciful and just. He loved us so much that He sent his Son not just to die for our sins, but also to model for us, in the flesh, how to think, act, and behave.

So the three persons of God set for us a mode we should emulate, a way of being we should emulate to the maximum extent to which it is possible given our humanity.


Communion in Society

God gave us a most incredible gift in Free Will. Love, and the communion which is a manifestation and consequence of that love, is a voluntary act.

Purely voluntary political ideologies and economic systems which tend towards common purpose and shared sacrifice are the ones which will enable us to most closely emulate God. Conversely, those realities which lean into atomization will take us and our society further from God.

The very operating principle of Karl Marx was class conflict: dividing everyone into two competing camps. "Woke intersectionality" takes Marx's model and pumps it up with steroids, formulating dozens of groups, and pitting them all against each other in a perpetual power struggle.

These models have nothing to offer us, other than hatred, intolerance, and never-ending infighting, in a Godless culture.

It must also be said that voluntary societies, such as those based on free market principles, can run aground if not rooted in the humility and sacrifice Jesus exemplified for us in the Paschal Mystery.

While the Lord sanctifies our labor and wants us to put our best selves forward to glorify Him, "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" can and often does tempt people to ego and lack of humility: to put everything on their shoulders-- rejecting communion with both others, and most of all with God.


Communion as Church

"Catholic" is derived from the Greek word "katholikos", which means "universal". It is not a coincidence that Duncan and I chose that very term as the first word for the name of this blog.

God created His church on Earth so that we may all be members of the Body of Christ, each performing distinct and equally important functions based on the charisms He has bestowed on every one one of us.

God also created family, right from the beginning: from Adam God created Eve; God bestowed on His creation the ability to pro-create; and from this ability-- an act of communion in and of itself-- Adam and Eve brought Abel, Cain, and Seth into the world.

Father, mother, and children.

Like our own families, Adam and Eve's had brokenness and sin: the side effect of their decision to go against the will of the Father. But God made good from it: through the genealogy came descendants leading all the way to Noah. Ultimately, through God's continued acts of providence came our entire story of salvation through Jesus.

It's no coincidence that the same forces promoting "intersectionality" very often encourage us to disassociate from our families, and to practice a disposition of zero-tolerance for those who disagree-- as opposed to dispositions of understanding and reconciliation. It's also no coincidence that Satan's favorite tools of depression and rumination serve to turn us inward and so to atomize ourselves.

God wants His church to be the organizing principle of love and communion on Earth. And He wants husbands and wives to be fruitful and multiply. God gave us a small slice of His power: the ability to create new life. We should treat this special, most sacred gift with great respect.


Communion and Joy

Communion brings with it great joy. We have all felt this with our brothers and sisters at our churches, or when spending time together with much-loved family and friends.

The opposite is true when we feel isolated, or that this communion has somehow eluded us. We feel despair, despondency, even depression, or worse. In those moments it is helpful to reflect on core truths:

• God quite literally never leaves us: even in the most dire of circumstances imaginable-- people conscripted into hard camp labor, for example-- He and His light are always there, beside us and within is.


• Things of this world are axiomatically ephemeral: only God is eternal. So as people come and go in our lives here on Earth, take solace in the fact that the creator of the universe is within you, and always-- always, unceasingly even!-- wants you to talk to Him; to share all of your troubles, your joys with Him.


• If we are acting in accordance with the Lord's will, then He will take care of us and our needs! You must truly believe that, and never forget it! Repeat it like a mantra in your head. Pray: "God, please provide for me." Then when He does, give him praise: "God, thank you for having provided for me." Use this virtuous cycle to increase even further your own obedience to His will.


• When feeling isolated, not only cling to God for that much-needed hug, but recognize and praise God that He has granted the isolating party Free Will. Although they are causing you distress now, pray for them to feel that unity with God which you feel. We can get "out of our heads" by focusing on the needs of others, even-- or especially-- those who have caused us discomfort.


• Hold up your loneliness as an offering to God. This can and should be done in private prayer, naturally! But it especially can be done during the summit which is the Holy Mass, during the Collect-- early in the Mass, when the priest says "Let us pray", we are invited to offer up our intentions. Not only that, but during the Eucharistic Prayer we are called to put on the altar our joys, sorrows, and whatever else is in our hearts, as a sacrifice.


• Enumerate those with whom you do feel communion, starting with our Lord and Savior. Perhaps in writing them down, you will realize just how large that list is! Work to make those bonds even stronger; offer prayers together with them, on behalf of those who are causing you and others to feel estranged.


• Estrangement is like a bastard sword; dual-edged: it harms the other party as much as it does you. Or perhaps it harms them even more, since by engaging in estrangement, there is a likely possibility that they have interior "blocks" preventing them from fully receiving God's grace. This is a sad state, for which we should offer our prayers and support.


• Continually remind yourself that God works for good in all things. We can't fathom God's providence since we are not God. But if we set ourselves in a disposition of gratitude, we will see the Holy Spirit moving in everyone around us, at all times. God grants all prayers offered with intentions aligned to His will. As we know He wants communion, our prayers can efficaciously invite and lead the estanging parties back into the fold, in whatever mysterious ways or timelines the Lord knows will be best for them, and for us.

May the peace of Christ be with you always!