O Rex Géntium

O Rex Géntium, et desiderátus eárum, lapísque anguláris, qui facis útraque unum : veni, et salva hóminem, quem de limo formásti.


O King of the peoples for whom they yearn, and stone of the Corner who makest both one: Come and save Man whom thou formedst of clay.

O come, Desire of nations, bind

In one the hearts of all mankind;

Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,

And be Thyself our King of Peace.

The Israelites longed for a king and got Saul then David then Solomon then Rehoboam and with each of them a whole host of trouble. God was naturally quite miffed when the people decided to abandon Theocracy in favour of Monarchy, especially when the One Leader (as Monarch literally translates) is not God Himself.

The result of having one leader who manifestly is not God is that it tends to polarise people. One can look first at the polarisation of the Kingdom of Israel under David's grandson Rehoboam which then divided into Northern and Southern Kingdoms, and then casting one's eye down the annals of the centuries we find divisions all over the show: Catholic and Schismatic, Norman and Saxon, Catholic and Protestant, Church and State, Moslem and Jew, Democrat and Republican, Conservative and Liberal, Science and Religion.

The world is getting wearied by this constant division, especially since some divisions are largely illusory. How does the Magnificat divide people? - the Proud, Mighty and Rich versus the Humble, Meek and Hungry. These are the divisions that really matter in the sight of God who is not a respecter of the masks that we are or the labels that we give ourselves. Humility, meekness (which is not a form of Quietism!) and hunger for God are the tenets upon which the Lord Himself tells us builds the Church. He is the Chief Corner Stone and we are built into the Church using those very tenets: that we are what we are and not what we pretend to be: that we submit our will to the rule of Christ, and that we truly hunger for Him alone.

Division is caused by those who exert their power over others, who believe themselves to be their own law and those who hoard their resources for themselves impervious to another's poverty. These lie at the heart of every Schism.

Christ prayed that we might be one. His prayer is being answered in the affirmative.