R ecently, Pope Francis used his Wednesday audience with the faithful from all over the world to speak about two of the marks of the Church: that the Church is one and holy. (Of course the other two are that the Church is Catholic and apostolic, but that is probably for another audience).

The marks of the Church are those essential and defining characteristics of the Church that come from Christ. They are always with and part of the Church, even if they are obscured by the stain of our sins.

Because they come from Him, they are not our choice or our gift to the Church. Rather, because we are members of the Body of Christ, we are tasked in our lives and in our faith to live up to and conform to the marks of the Church. We then, are called to continual conversion and to have the courage to live daily those marks of the Church.

That we, along with the Church, are to be one has various levels that we need to take into consideration every hour and every day as part of our life of faith.

For example, it is a part of our catholic (that is universal) outlook, that we recognize our unity with the faith of those who have gone before us in the Church. Our faith must be one even with the faith of those who first prayed and celebrated Mass in the catacombs and since then. Likewise, our faith is the link in the chain for those believers who will come after us.

Consequently, our faith can never become so modern, so up to date, that it breaks with the gift of faith guided by the Holy Spirit in the Church centuries or thousands of years ago. The faith given us by Christ doesn’t change, even as it deepens to respond to modern circumstances or questions.

On another level, our faith must be one throughout the world even today. Whether you attend Mass in Rockford, Rome or on a mountain in Iraq, we join our fellow believers in faith and in the same sacraments. So when we hear of individuals or even local churches in different parts of the world arguing to change essential elements of the faith because “that is what we believe here,” we need to remember that our call to unity does not give us freedom simply to do as we see best. It is a calling to conform to Christ and to be joined together as the one people He wants us to be.

Pope Francis then continued his talk by giving us a further reminder about another level of unity … in our parishes. That same reminder would well apply to us in our schools, our neighborhoods and even our places of work. In speaking about these very local and personal places of interaction with each other, the Holy Father returned to urge spiritual and human vigilance against one of the great threats to unity, which he refers to as gossip.

Of course when Pope Francis reminds us to avoid gossip, he’s not taking aim at the harmless conveying of the innocent personal, workplace or neighborhood news (“I hear the neighbors’ daughter was just accepted at the university”).

It is rather, the kind of commentary that is a great human temptation — the gossip that is marked by, as he put it, envy, jealousy and anger. It is the kind of dividing talk that looks for faults, doesn’t let go of past hurts, doesn’t forgive. In a previous talk, the Holy Father called on us to become “conscientious objectors to gossip.”

It is interesting that Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly about selected topics. We are all aware of how often he speaks about the poor and the need of the Church to serve them as a priority of faith. But quite regularly he has also spoken about this kind of gossip. Avoiding it seems to be a priority for the life of faith in his vision.

Because it is so common for all of us to have stories of past hurts or grievances or simply current anger, focusing our thoughts and words on charity and avoiding divisive comments or attitudes is often one of our great spiritual challenges.

For most, it is a challenge that is present daily, and will be until we take our last breath. Avoidance won’t happen, either, just by our human effort. We need to pray about it. But we can be confident because the unity of the Church, that she and we are to be one, is ultimately Christ’s gift and His calling to us.