In the Holy Mass, God brings us together into the very substance of his being, bringing a supernatural unity that no simple art or philosophy could ever achieve.

I recently watched a brief documentary about a musical artist. In the video, a composer explains how he views music as an opportunity for musicians and audiences to feel together — in other words, music creates a common experience of emotion that artists and listeners share.

Shortly after, I was looking for information on the meaning of the U2 song Where the streets have no name since I’m trying to learn to play it on guitar. (By trying is the key word.) I learned that Bono was inspired to write the song after hearing about a town in Northern Ireland where residents were assigned a street based on their profession and religion , a policy that emphasized differences and imposed segregation.

A place where streets do not have names would be a place where forced separation would be abolished and people would be united. When discussing his inspiration for the song, he reflected that he saw a concert as a place where the barriers that separate people are put aside and everyone can be united in a shared experience. A concert is not necessarily THE place where the streets do not have names, but it can be considered one of these places.

I think all art is based on this idea of ​​a kind of unifying encounter. The artist creates a work intended to produce a particular effect, to create an encounter. The public sensitive to this art experiences the encounter desired by the artist.

From my own experience, I think of the experience of the poem Sea feverand I could practically smell the ocean air. After finishing Moby-DickI felt salty and seasick. After reading Othello I simply and absolutely hated Iago’s deception and betrayal. When I hear the first piece of Bach Suites for celloI have no words to describe the experience other than to say that it is the music itself. When I look at Van Gogh First stepsI feel the purpose, beauty and responsibility of being a parent. Art is a unifying force and therefore must be created with caution.

Various philosophies, religions and ideologies also create unity among their adherents. A set of shared beliefs and perspectives gives us common ground to see the world together, and people are naturally drawn together when they share a worldview.

Political movements also unite people around a common cause and vision of what the world or country should be like.

There are many other things that unite us. CS Lewis says that friendship is like two people standing side by side looking at something and sharing a common interest. When two people discover that they are fans of the same sports team or that they both have a common hobby, they become closer.

The image of romantic love, according to Lewis, is that of two people facing each other, looking at each other and being interested in each other. It is a unique form of unity where two become one in a very real and concrete way that has no equivalent. It is a unity so beautiful that it is the garden of new human life and the foundation of society.

There is another unique type of unity occurring on planet Earth, and that is the unity of the Mass. Together we gather to worship at the sacrifice, just as other religious groups gather for their own forms of worship, but then the one God comes to us in the form of bread and wine, and he we are permitted to eat and drink his Body and Blood. God unites with us. The initiative is on his side, and you just have to receive it with dignity. This type of unity with the Divine is unprecedented in the world.

As for the faithful, we are also united with one another through this meal in a unique way, more deeply and more truly than if we simply sat down to eat dinner together. Saint Paul teaches us: “Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). By being united to the one God, we are united to each other by the very foundation of being.

In the Kingdom of God, it is God’s work to unite and bring us together through this sacramental sacrifice. All divisions disappear and we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28). A concert, a work of art, a shared hobby, or a philosophy can bring people together, but only in a way that unites certain common characteristics. The Mass unites us at the heart of our existence by uniting us with the Core, and the City of God is truly the place where the streets have no name — because there is only one name, the name of Jesus .