Vigils Reading

CHRISTIAN UNITY

From the Encyclical “Ut Unum Sint” by Pope St John Paul II

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The Second Vatican Council exhorts “all Christ’s faithful to remember

that the more they strive to live according to the Gospel, the more they are

fostering and even practicing Christian unity. For they can achieve depth and

ease in strengthening mutual brotherhood to the degree that they enjoy

profound communion with the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. “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’.”

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 reestablish it between

Christians still divided. Love is the great undercurrent which gives life and adds

vigor to the movement toward 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 ties which even now

bind Catholics to their separated brethren. 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.”

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. 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 that the world

would believe that the Father had sent him. “Ecumenical prayer” is at the

service of the Christian mission and its credibility. It must be especially present

in the life of the Church and in every activity aimed at fostering Christian unity.