Week of prayer for Christian unity

PoPope Francis: 'Our witness must concentrate on
the centre of our faith.' 

Pope Francis has said the evangelisation of secular society requires focusing on the essentials of Christianity in collaboration with other Christian churches. 

The Pope made his remarks at a meeting with representatives of the Lutheran Church in Finland, who were making their annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Rome on the feast of Finland’s patron, St Henry. The meeting occurred one day before the start of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Pope Francis told the group that ecumenical relations lately have been undergoing “significant changes, owing above all to the fact that we find ourselves professing our faith in the context of societies and cultures every day more lacking in reference to God and all that recalls the transcendent dimension of life”.

“For this very reason, our witness must concentrate on the centre of our faith, on the announcement of the love of God made manifest in Christ his son,” the Pope said. “Here we find space to grow in communion and in unity, promoting spiritual ecumenism.”

Pope Francis quoted the Second Vatican Council’s decree on ecumenism, which described “spiritual ecumenism” as consisting of “conversion of heart and holiness of life, together with private and public prayer for Christian unity,” which form the “soul of the whole ecumenical movement”.

from The Catholic Herald, 17 January 2014

Saturday, 18 January 2014

Saturday of the First week in Ordinary Time

Feast of the Church : Week of prayer for Christian unity

See commentary below or click here
Vatican Council II: "As he passed by, he saw Levi... He said to him, 'Follow me.' " 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2:13-17.

Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. ... 

Commentary of the day :

Vatican Council II
Dogmatic Constitution on revelation « Dei Verbum », § 1-2

"As he passed by, he saw Levi... He said to him, 'Follow me.' "

Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming it with faith, the sacred synod takes its direction from these words of Saint John: "We announce to you the eternal life which dwelt with the Father and was made visible to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you, so that you may have fellowship with us and our common fellowship be with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn 1:2-3)...

In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (Eph 1,9) by which, through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (Eph 2,18; 2 Pt 1,4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (Col 1,15; 1 Tm. 1,17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (Ex 33,11; Jn 15,14-15) and lives among them (Bar 3,38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself.

This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.