House We Live In

Praying and working for unity in the Church

01/27/2025

Mark 3:22-30 The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons." Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

I am going to talk politics this morning but only as an introduction and an illustration to make a larger point. We just went through a contentious and controversial election cycle. It is clear that Donald Trump received roughly 77 million votes, and Kamala Harris about 74 million. And more importantly Trump won the majority of electoral votes which really determines who occupies the White House. But I don’t think anyone will disagree that our nation is very much a house divided.

Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous House Divided speech in 1858 while running for senator from Illinois (which he lost). But the future 16th president warned that a house or nation divided cannot stand the test of time. Indeed, that very hypothesis would be tested when Lincoln became president in 1861 and the Civil War erupted over the issue of slavery. Our house was not only divided, we were shooting and killing each other over that division.

For a brief period we were two nations. And there is even a small concrete monument on Rogers Avenue between the church and the rectory honoring Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. Yeah, there really is one. My prayer is that as we Americans grow farther apart, politically, socially, morally, and religiously history will not repeat itself. Or as Mark Twain cleverly put it, history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Of course Lincoln borrowed the core words of his speech from what Jesus said in the gospel today: “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Now, Jesus was not referring principally to secular kingdoms or houses, like the United States, but rather to spiritual kingdoms like the dominion of Satan and the Kingdom of God.

And here I believe is his main point. Satan’s kingdom is essentially and inescapably a divided kingdom and ultimately doomed to fall. Why? Well, because it began with a division and a mutiny from the Kingdom of God. Remember that Satan and all demons are fallen angels.

That is, they were originally law-abiding citizens of God’s kingdom, but became rebels and outlaws. What began as an attempt to divide God’s kingdom will inevitably suffer the same fate itself, namely, division and disaster. Satan was born from division, and his own kingdom will suffer division until there is nothing left to divide.

God’s kingdom, on the other hand, is not established on the principle of division or rebellion, but on the basis of unity and harmony. At the very heart of God’s kingdom, therefore, lies the divine source of its indestructible unity, namely, the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And this, by the way, is precisely why Jesus takes such umbrage with an attack on the Holy Spirit in the gospel. When people accuse him of being possessed by an evil spirit, and he calls it an unforgiveable sin. By denouncing the Holy Spirit as an evil spirit, they are casting aspersions and attacking the very source of the unity and harmony of the Kingdom of God, and saying it is equivalent to the dominion of Satan.

I am convinced this emphasis on the unity of the Kingdom of God is the main reason the Church pivoted at Vatican II from decrying all the divisions and differences between Christians - how Catholics are so unlike the other denominations - and rather turned to highlighting all the points of contact and similarities between Christians.

For example, we accept the baptisms of most other Christian denominations. When a Methodist or Presbyterian or Episcopalian wants to become Catholic, we do not re-baptize them. They are already validly baptized. We believe that when two baptized Christians marry each other, they receive the sacrament and the graces of Holy Matrimony.

Someday study the documents of Vatican II with this gospel passage in the back of your mind, and I believe you will see the golden thread that runs through all 16 documents. At this Mass let us pray for greater unity: in our country, in our Church, and in our own families. When we experience division and disorder we take a step toward Satan’s kingdom. When we enjoy unity and harmony, we stand firmly in God’s kingdom. A house divided cannot stand, but that is not the house we live in.

Praised be Jesus Christ!