Throughout the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Friar Enrique Eguiarte emphasizes a decisive Augustinian root: pride divides. Unity requires real conversion and a sincere search for what belongs to Christ.
Pride and division: the path of conversion to unity according to Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine emphasizes that the great cause of division is pride. Pride occurs when the human being locks himself in himself and comes to believe that everything he has belongs to him exclusively, forgetting that everything is a gift that comes from God and that he must return it to him (1 Cor 4, 7). Therefore, unity in the Church and in every community implies a work of conversion, of setting aside personal elements and sources of division to build unity. Saint Augustine is aware that divisions in the Church come from those who do not seek the interests of Christ but their own (Phil 2, 21; s. 46, 2). Therefore, conversion implies setting aside the human elements that separate and divide us and seeking what belongs to Christ, promoting everything that unites us and relativizing and distinguishing what separates us. Being able to build unity requires a serious process of conversion.
