One heart and one mind: Reflection for Tuesday, April 29, 2025

One heart and one mind. What an ideal description of the Christian community. Being of one heart and one mind is not in anyway easy. In fact, it is only possible with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Readings for today.

One heart and one mind

There is something very attractive in the description of the early Christian community. Today we get a description that seems almost impossible. They are of one heart and one mind. How is it possible?

To be sure, we know that this was not to last. It will not take too much longer to see that divisions will arise. Consider Saint Paul’s need to scold members of one of his own community for how they treat one another. The wealthy get a great spot, the poor do not. Some hoard the food after Mass, others go hungry.

This seems to be more of a problem today. Countries invade other countries and take territory by force. Political actions are mean and vindictive. We speak to each other, and about each other poorly. We do not listen. We are many minds and many hearts.

Jesus tells us that where our heart is, there is where what we treasure is. If we are really to be of one heart and one mind, we need to recognize that our treasure, our true treasure can only come from God. Only in the grace of the Holy Spirit can we really be of one heart and one mind.

How do we do that? Most importantly we must value what Christ valued. How often did Christ speak of the way we needed to treat the poor? How often did Christ reach out to those on the margins? Tax collectors, sinners, Samaritans, lepers. He valued loaning money to those who could not pay us back.

And he set this example so that we would seek the Kingdom of God first. We would live in a way where we acknowledged Christ our King. Where we focused all our attention on the will of God, and doing the will of God. We do this when we strive to become holy.

The foundation of being one heart and one mind is to seek holiness. God calls each one of us to holiness. Every human being is given the call by God to be holy. Holiness is not for the select few. It is for all of us.

And we need to seek and to strive to witness to those things that God wants. And while Nicodemus asked his question to a completely different set of circumstances, his question is pertinent here. “How can this happen?” How can this happen that we will be of one heart and one mind?

Today’s saint, Saint Catherine of Siena provides the clue. She lived in a time of great division and even schism in the Church. There were three men claiming to be pope. It was Catherine who fought for unity. She told Pope Gregory XI to get back to Rome. She negotiated peace.

All of her work for becoming the one heart and one mind of Christ came from her deep love for God. A tremendous mystic, Saint Catherine of Siena is a model for us. She did not have any political program to achieve God’s plan, but rather she threw herself deeply into her relationship with God. And in this way, she was one heart and one mind with God.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update. And we have restarted our podcasts after a hiatus. You can subscribe to our podcasts on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

About Author