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Christian Unity Through the Holy Spirit
June 1, 2006
How can I, as a person of faith, help the cause of Christian unity? Above all through prayer.
Saint Justin, martyr
Father Walter Schu, LC John 17: 20-26
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: "I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them." Introductory Prayer: Lord, may you bring about the unity of all Christians in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. May many more people throughout the earth become Christian by our authentic witness of Christian charity. Petition: Lord, help me to grow in authentic Christian love through the power of the Holy Spirit. Enable me to be an instrument of love so that “the world may believe.” 1. “That the World May Believe That You Sent Me.” “The mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion.” These haunting words, with which Pope John Paul the Great opened his 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio, reflect the urgency of the Holy Spirit’s call to a new evangelization. Christ’s priestly prayer to his Father that all may be one reveals what John Paul the Great has called the biggest obstacle to evangelization: the lack of Christian unity. Pope Benedict XVI has made Christian unity one of the main goals of his pontificate. How can I, as a person of faith, help the cause of Christian unity? Above all through prayer. Vatican II has defined prayer as “the soul of the whole ecumenical movement” (Unitatis redintegratio, no. 8). 2. “That They May Be One:” Christ’s Prayer and Ours. In his sublime priestly prayer, just hours before his passion and death, Christ reveals that his desire for all people to be one with him and the Father arises from the depths of his heart. Yet over 2,000 years after Christ’s redemption, less than one third of the people in the world call themselves Christians. How urgent is the call to Christian unity so that “the world may believe”! Our prayer must echo Christ’s constant appeal to the Father that the lost unity of Christians may be restored. “Prayer puts us, first and foremost, before the Lord, purifies us in intentions, in sentiments, in our heart, and produces that ‘interior conversion,’ without which there is no real ecumenism” (cf. Unitatis redintegratio,, no. 7). 3. “That the Love with Which You Loved Me May Be in Them.” On this feast of St Justin Martyr, we cannot help but recall a profound conviction of our beloved Pope John Paul the Great: There is no greater witness to Christ than the martyrs. The martyrs gave testimony to the depths of Christ’s love to point of shedding their own blood for him. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we too can live out the witness of Christian charity in our lives: the one force capable of uniting all men and women in Christ. Legionary of Christ founder Fr Marcial Maciel reflects on the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live authentic Christian love: “He teaches us to love, he teaches us to forgive, he teaches us to forget offences, to do good without expecting any recompense, to trust in God and love him above all things” (Letter, May 3, 1986). Dialogue with Christ: Lord, help me to ardently desire the unity of all Christians. Help me to pray constantly for this unity and work for it in my life. Resolution: I will pray for Christian unity in a special way today and do an act of charity to help draw someone closer to Christ.
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