From the Pastor's Desk - January 25, 2026

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

In this Sunday’s second reading, St. Paul calls the Church in Corinth to unity: “that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” He saw the encroaching danger of division and factionalism. Indeed, the word “devil” means divider. Satan’s desire is to sow division in marriages, families and in society at all levels. How quickly when an event happens on a cultural level that we retreat to our ideological camps for safety! On the other hand, the Holy Spirit draws us together into the one Body of Christ. His work is one of reconciliation, understanding, concord and peace.

Unity does not necessarily mean uniformity, though. There is a unity in diversity, which is a work of the Spirit. As an example, we have ten Sunday Masses among three language groups, and each culture expresses its faith in unique ways. Yet, there is unity in the worship of the one God who draws us together in his Son through the Eucharist. Each of our communities expresses in its own language the Creed every Sunday. There are a diversity of spiritualities—charismatic, contemplative, Franciscan, etc.—but each manifests an aspect of the truth of our Catholic faith.

The unity that God desires for his Church isn’t one of mindless conformity or immature compliance. It isn’t produced by authoritarian heavy-handedness nor a “live and let live” attitude that disregards the call to conversion of life. The Holy Trinity is the ultimate model and guide for unity: one God in three divine Persons. God exists as One in an eternal communion of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unity can only be achieved and sustained in relationships based on love, reciprocity, openness, sacrifice, self-gift and freedom.

Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, took as his papal motto, “In Illo uno unum,” which translates “In Him we are one.” As Successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ his role is to ensure the unity of the Church and, ultimately, of the world. As his motto indicates, only in Christ can that be realized. May our prayer echo that of Christ at the Last Supper, “that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn. 17:21).

In Christ,

Fr. Dave