Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

Lectionary: 333

Ahijah took off his new cloak,
tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam:
“Take ten pieces for yourself; the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp
and will give you ten of the tribes.
One tribe shall remain to him for the sake of David my servant, and of Jerusalem,
the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’”
Israel went into rebellion against David’s house to this day.

Ahijah is not one of the major prophets but he had an important message for Jeroboam. The Kingdom of David would be divided and never reunited; Jeroboam would be the first king of Israel. To those who treasured Nathan’s prophecy to David, this split must have been heretical. Can the people of God be divided? Forever? Unthinkable!

But it happened and at least some of the prophets believed it was God’s will. Their story, too, is recorded in the scriptures. The split is justified as punishment for Solomon’s sins while Nathan’s prophecy is maintained by the one remaining tribe “for the sake of David my servant and of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’”

Very often God’s mysterious ways are unexpected, undeserved blessings. People recover from terminal cancer. Job opportunities open where none were apparent. Lemons become lemonade, water becomes wine and we are delighted.

But God can allow life to punish our sins as well. Every action has its consequences. Nathan had prophesied that violence would always afflict the house of David, and so it happened.

Catholics have often regarded the Protestant Reformation as a terrible tragedy. When I was in grade school our text books called it the Protestant Revolution. We heard how churches and shrines were defaced and destroyed; the very landscape was transformed and secularized by the violence.

Protestants, of course, saw the development as God’s blessing for the Church. It was a needed and welcome reform.

In the secular environment of the VA hospital, chaplains, staff, Veterans and their families maintain an easy live-and-let-live attitude toward religions in general. Some might admit in confidence their loathing for Islam; but they admit it is a reaction to their Iraq and Afghanistan experience. On the whole we try to remain friendly and non-judgmental about religious differences.

I see our divisions as a consequence and punishment for sin. We have not been able to maintain the unity Jesus clearly wants in his Church. There are many reasons for that disunity; most of them have to do with our sinful impatience, intolerance, pride and so forth. 

If the wrong were all on one side, and righteousness on the other, the wrong side would have faded and disappeared a long time ago. Because every Christian religion and sect has some truth which belongs to the whole of our Church, they survive and must be respected. 


We must study the ways of peace. Whenever separated brethren speak of our differences or share faith we should acknowledge the origins of those apparently irreconcilable differences, sin.

That acknowledgement will not automatically draw us together. There is nothing automatic in human life. But it will help us to atone for the sins of our ancestors. We will be more willing to recognize the faith, holiness and beauty of one another, and the mysterious ways of God who permits us to keep our differences even as he draws us together.

The Holy Spirit that swept through the Cenacle on that Pentecost intended to undo the sin of Babel. There would be one language to unite the whole church. We have yet to find that unity but I am sure it begins in penance and sorrow for our sin.

BtW: Happy Valentines Day!