Feast of St Bernardine of Siena, Franciscan Friar.

"I pray..... so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." (John 17: 21).

Thursday 20th May 2021, in the 7th Week of Easter is the feast of St Bernardine of Siena (1380 - 1444). Italian Franciscan Priest. St Bernardine had a great charism for preaching. During his relatively short life, he was able to evangelize all Italy. Below is a snippet from his biography.

"When other priests consulted him for advice, Bernardine gave them a simple rule: “In all your actions, seek in the first place the kingdom of God and his glory. Direct all you do purely to his honor. Persevere in brotherly charity, and practice first all that you desire to teach others.”

Bernardine came down to us in history for his special love for the holy name of Jesus.
Here is a great quote from St Bernardine on the name of Jesus:

“The name of Jesus, is in fact,
the great foundation of the faith
that turns people into children of God.
The Catholic Faith indeed,
consists in the news of Jesus Christ, as light of the soul, gate of life and foundation of eternal salvation.”

In our key Scripture for today, Jesus prayed for Church Unity. He wants Christians to be of one heart and one mind so that the world would look at Christians and see Jesus in us.  The standard for this unity is: "Just as you [Father] are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me."
Today there may be more than 60,000 denominations in the world.  You may wonder: What type of answer is this to prayer? This is surely mystery of Divine Providence.

One of the greatest obstacles to Unity is that a sizable number of denominations do not believe in the type of Unity that Jesus prayed for His Church. Number one obstacle without doubt is Sin. Sin exists in all churches. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit deals  with sins in the churches. We may still hope to see visible unity in our lifetime.

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com