The
primacy of prayer
A Reading about Christian Unity
Night Office
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html
UT
UNUM SINT
IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
The primacy
of prayer
- 21. "This change of heart and holiness
of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians,
should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and can
rightly be called 'spiritual ecumenism' ".42
- We proceed along the road leading to the conversion
of hearts guided by love which is directed to God and, at the same time, to all
our brothers and sisters, including those not in full communion with us. Love
gives rise to the desire for unity, even in those who have never been aware of
the need for it. Love builds communion between individuals and between
Communities. If we love one another, we strive to deepen our communion and make
it perfect.Love is given to God as the perfect source of
communion—the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit—that we may draw from that
source the strength to build communion between individuals and Communities, or
to re-establish it between Christians still divided. Love is the great
undercurrent which gives life and adds vigour to the movement towards unity.
- This love finds its most complete
expression in common prayer. When brothers and sisters who are not in
perfect communion with one another come together to pray, the Second Vatican
Council defines their prayer as the soul of the whole ecumenical
movement. This prayer is "a very effective means of petitioning for
the grace of unity", "a genuine expression of the ties which even
now bind Catholics to their separated brethren".43 Even
when prayer is not specifically offered for Christian unity, but for other
intentions such as peace, it actually becomes an expression and confirmation of
unity. The common prayer of Christians is an invitation to Christ himself to
visit the community of those who call upon him: "Where two or three are
gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Mt 18:20).
- 22. When Christians pray together, the goal of unity seems closer. The long history of Christians marked by many divisions seems to converge once more because it tends towards that Source of its unity which is Jesus Christ. He "is the same yesterday, today and forever!" (Heb13:8). In the fellowship of prayer Christ is truly present; he prays "in us", "with us" and "for us". It is he who leads our prayer in the Spirit-Consoler whom he promised and then bestowed on his Church in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, when he established her in her original unity.
- Along the ecumenical path to unity, pride of place
certainly belongs to common prayer, the prayerful union of those
who gather together around Christ himself. If Christians, despite their
divisions, can grow ever more united in common prayer around Christ, they will
grow in the awareness of how little divides them in comparison to what unites
them. If they meet more often and more regularly before Christ in prayer, they
will be able to gain the courage to face all the painful human reality of their
divisions, and they will find themselves together once more in that community
of the Church which Christ constantly builds up in the Holy Spirit, in spite of
all weaknesses and human limitations.
- 23. Finally, fellowship in prayer leads
people to look at the Church and Christianity in a new way. It must not be
forgotten in fact that the Lord prayed to the Father that his disciples might
be one, so that their unity might bear witness to his mission and the world
would believe that the Father had sent him (cf. Jn 17:21). It
can be said that the ecumenical movement in a certain sense was born out of the
negative experience of each one of those who, in proclaiming the one Gospel,
appealed to his own Church or Ecclesial Community. This was a contradiction
which could not escape those who listened to the message of salvation and found
in this fact an obstacle to acceptance of the Gospel. Regrettably, this grave
obstacle has not been overcome. It is true that we are not yet in full
communion. And yet, despite our divisions, we are on the way towards full
unity, that unity which marked the Apostolic Church at its birth and which we
sincerely seek. Our common prayer, inspired by faith, is proof of this. In that
prayer, we gather together in the name of Christ who is One. He is our unity.
- "Ecumenical" prayer is at the service of the Christian mission and its credibility. It must thus be especially present in the life of the Church and in every activity aimed at fostering Christian unity. It is as if we constantly need to go back and meet in the Upper Room of Holy Thursday, even though our presence together in that place will not be perfect until the obstacles to full ecclesial communion are overcome and all Christians can gather together in the common celebration of the Eucharist.44
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