Monday, the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul marks the end of the week of prayer for Christian Unity. Thank you for finding time to include this in your intentions. Every year the Week of Prayer is all about restoring the unity Christ gave and the Church lived in its earliest days. There have been sad and difficult moments in the life of the Christian family. We bow our heads in shame before God at some of the terrible things that have happened down through the centuries.
Every denomination must be shown respect; every denomination must be offered the hand of friendship. We call on the Holy Spirit to bless their leaders, to bless and protect their spiritual places of worship. The leaders must and should meet regularly. Pope St. John Paul II and his successors have shown the right way forward. Our bishops and cardinals have worked closely for the good of the Christian family. Lay people live it out in the family life and in parish communities up and down the land.
We Catholics have an important role to play. We are ambassadors for Christ; we are also ambassadors for the Catholic Church. Ecumenism is sometimes misunderstood as a process of negotiation, or a whittling down of the Church's teaching. Rather than working on agreements (they are good to work on like Arcic-III) and dissecting theologies, ecumenism begins with Prayer.
The prayer for unity opens the door to Heaven, the prayer for unity, that is at the heart of the Eucharistic prayer is echoed in the liturgy of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth has led by example. She is a living page of the Gospel. All Christians can feel and see her witness to Christ. Her messages to the Nation and the Commonwealth are exemplary and valued. She has always reached out to all Christian leaders and indeed to offer Christ's friendship to other faiths.
Unity, Unity, Unity, it's needed, prayer cries out for it. Souls cry out for it. Unity is the vocation of the Church and you have an important part to play in it. "I am the Vine, you are the branches", Jesus tells his disciples of all generations. He also reminds us "Those who abide in Me, and I in them, bear much fruit".
May you, bear much fruit in your life, and ask and call on the Holy Spirit to bless and inspire you in the world of prayer, and in the work of ecumenism and reaching out to all branches of the Christian Family!
Every denomination must be shown respect; every denomination must be offered the hand of friendship. We call on the Holy Spirit to bless their leaders, to bless and protect their spiritual places of worship. The leaders must and should meet regularly. Pope St. John Paul II and his successors have shown the right way forward. Our bishops and cardinals have worked closely for the good of the Christian family. Lay people live it out in the family life and in parish communities up and down the land.
We Catholics have an important role to play. We are ambassadors for Christ; we are also ambassadors for the Catholic Church. Ecumenism is sometimes misunderstood as a process of negotiation, or a whittling down of the Church's teaching. Rather than working on agreements (they are good to work on like Arcic-III) and dissecting theologies, ecumenism begins with Prayer.
The prayer for unity opens the door to Heaven, the prayer for unity, that is at the heart of the Eucharistic prayer is echoed in the liturgy of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth has led by example. She is a living page of the Gospel. All Christians can feel and see her witness to Christ. Her messages to the Nation and the Commonwealth are exemplary and valued. She has always reached out to all Christian leaders and indeed to offer Christ's friendship to other faiths.
Unity, Unity, Unity, it's needed, prayer cries out for it. Souls cry out for it. Unity is the vocation of the Church and you have an important part to play in it. "I am the Vine, you are the branches", Jesus tells his disciples of all generations. He also reminds us "Those who abide in Me, and I in them, bear much fruit".
May you, bear much fruit in your life, and ask and call on the Holy Spirit to bless and inspire you in the world of prayer, and in the work of ecumenism and reaching out to all branches of the Christian Family!
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