Third Sunday of Lent

“Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house.” —Luke 11:17

When Jesus warns about a divided kingdom, I like to focus on what happens in a united family. An Ethiopian proverb says, “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” That is what I have experienced here in Uganda with our Holy Cross family of sisters, brothers, and priests who have united their “webs” over the past forty years.

I think of Holy Cross Lake View, the secondary school we founded in a poor village near Lake Victoria. Through the united efforts of many dedicated Holy Cross religious and lay teachers, it has become a miracle school. Not only have the students succeeded, receiving recognition nationally, but the witness of our Holy Cross charism of unity has spoken volumes to students, parents, and many others.

What greater gift could we in Holy Cross give to the people of Africa who live in countries plagued by war, corruption, disease, and tribal conflicts than to live as one family regardless of nationality, tribe, gender, or age? And what greater gift can any of us give to the communities in which we live, so often torn by division as well, than to unite our webs and work together for God’s kingdom? There simply isn’t one.

—Written by Sister Mary Louise Wahler

Excerpted from The Gift of the Cross, ed. by Andrew Gawrych, CSC. Copyright (c) 2009 by the Priests of Holy Cross, Indiana Province. Used by permission of the publisher, Ave Maria Press, P.O. Box 428, Notre Dame, IN 46556, www.avemariapress.com