The Church today resembles a fragmented body, divided and unable to visibly reflect Christ’s oneness. This disunity directly opposes Christ’s prayer in John 17, where He asked that His followers “be one” so the world would believe in His divine mission. The Eucharist, as the sacrament of unity, lies at the heart of this prayer, simultaneously signifying and deepening the Church’s oneness. Yet, in its divided state, the Church undermines this sacred calling, jeopardizing its witness and the integrity of the Gospel.
Unity, as Christ envisioned, is not abstract or sentimental but a visible, lived reality rooted in the Trinitarian life. As Jesus prayed in John 17:21, the unity of His followers must be perceptible to the world, serving as evidence of His divine mission: “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Invisible or abstract unity would fail to achieve this purpose, as the world could neither witness it nor be drawn to the Gospel. The Eucharist embodies this unity, reflecting two essential dimensions: positional unity, which represents the oneness believers share through baptism, and progressive unity, which calls believers into ever-deeper communion through Eucharistic participation. These poles of unity—“already” and “not yet”—are mutually reinforcing. While the foundation of positional unity is established through baptism, that foundation is meant to be built on.
That this positional unity cannot rest solely on baptism is evinced by Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11. Though the Corinthians had been baptized, their divisions and factionalism undermined the Eucharistic unity. He rebukes them, saying, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat” (1 Corinthians 11:20). Their unworthy participation, failing to “discern the body,” showed that baptism alone was insufficient for Eucharistic unity. Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 10:17—“because there is one bread, we who are many are one body”—emphasizes that baptism must be accompanied by visible ecclesial unity to partake worthily. Without shared doctrine, mutual recognition, and submission to the Church’s authority, Eucharistic participation risks becoming a proclamation of unity that does not truly exist.
This Eucharistic unity mirrors the relational oneness of the Trinity, where mutual self-gift and participation define divine life. By partaking in Christ’s sacramental body, believers are drawn into both a visible and mystical communion, reflecting the unity of the Church as His body. However, divisions within the Church distort this unity, rendering the Church’s proclamation of oneness incoherent and undermining its credibility. As Paul warns, the Eucharist, when approached without true unity, becomes a source of judgment rather than grace. Visible markers of unity are essential to safeguard the Eucharist’s purpose and meaning.
The Eucharist is not merely a symbol but a sacrament that achieves what it signifies. Its very structure demands visible unity. Paul emphasizes that “because there is one bread, we who are many are one body.” The Eucharist presupposes and reflects the oneness of Christ’s body while simultaneously deepening it through active participation. Without this visible oneness, the Church fails to embody the unity Christ prayed for or to serve as a credible witness to the world. The fractured body of Christ can only be healed if the Church confronts its divisions, restoring its unity as a visible and tangible reality.
Through the Eucharist, the Church is called to reflect the harmony of the Trinity and become the visible sign of Christ’s love and mission to a watching world. Only through this sacramental and visible unity can the Church fulfill its identity as the one body of Christ and the hope of Christ’s prayer in John 17:21 be realized.
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