Thursday, Jan. 18, is the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Jesus’ great prayer in the Upper Room at the Last Supper was that His disciples would be one, as He and His Heavenly Father were one. Boy, have we blown that!
    
Christianity is divided into the three great groups—Catholics, Protestants, and the Orthodox. There are smaller groups who do not claim unity with any of these three. This is a grave scandal and is one of the reasons that many people reject Christianity. Let us pray that Christ will help us overcome our differences and love one another as Christ prayed.

On Monday, Jan. 15, our nation honors the life and death, and the struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This holiday is not just a monument to him but to all who participated in the Civil Rights Movement. We have come a long way, but there is a great deal of work to be done if we are to guarantee the freedom of every man, woman, and child in this country.

St. Anthony the Great was an early monk who is considered the father of all monks. He lived in Egypt in the last half of the third century and the first half of the fourth. He died in 356 AD.
    
Anthony is known for his teachings on spirituality and prayer and for developing one of the earliest orders for Catholic monasteries. The Feast of St. Anthony is on Wednesday, Jan. 17.