Newness & Unity

From Pope Francis' homily on Pentecost

"Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, program and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision....This is not a question of novelty for novelty’s sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day. The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good."

"A second thought: the Holy Spirit would appear to create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony. One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony – “Ipse harmonia est”. He is indeed harmony. Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division.When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church."

Yes! These two themes -- newness and unity -- are so relevant and so powerful to our current times. At my school there is often almost a war-like feeling between the "charismatics" and the "traddies" (traditionalists) with the offense coming mostly from those who want to keep with tradition. Now, I myself have often felt the same way -- why? Out of fear. Part of me gets scared of things which greatly differ from tradition because I look at the world around us and see a slippery slope leading down. This would be a rational fear if people were breaking away from the Church and doing things by their own authority that they think is good. (And I do not deny that this is a very serious problem today) But if the changes are honestly and prayerfully considered and humbly submitted for the betterment of God's people and under the direction of the Church then this is a very good thing indeed. Diversity is good! God is One but He is All. The secular world often stereotypes the Church as bland, boring and out of date. This couldn't be more wrong. The Church is living, breathing, moving! Charging people to live according to Truth and serving as an anchor in our confusing little world. 
So, don't fear newness or change but embrace it as just another facet or expression of God's greatness, love and the way people fall head over heels for Him. It is foolish to think He can only be loved and adored through one form for He is so vast and so awesome