Vigils Reading

THAT THEY MAY BE ONE

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

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At the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church committed herself

irrevocably to following the path of the ecumenical venture, thus heeding the

spirit of the Lord, who teaches people to interpret carefully the “signs of the

times”. The experiences of these years have made the Church even more

profoundly aware of her identity and mission in history. The Catholic Church

acknowledges and confesses the weaknesses of her members, conscious that

their sins are so many betrayals of and obstacles to the accomplishment of the

Savior’s plan.

Because she feels herself constantly called to be renewed in the spirit of

the Gospel, she does not cease to do penance. At the same time, she

acknowledges and exalts still more the power of the Lord, who fills her with the

gift of holiness, leads her forward, and conforms her to his Passion and

Resurrection.

Taught by the events of her history, the Church is committed to freeing

herself from every purely human support, in order to live in depth the Gospel

law of the Beatitudes. Conscious that the truth does not impose itself except “by

virtue of its own truth, as it makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly

and with power”, she seeks nothing for herself but the freedom to proclaim the

Gospel. Indeed her authority is exercised in the service of truth and charity.

Together with all Christ’s disciples, the Catholic Church bases upon God’s

plan her ecumenical commitment to gather all Christians into unity. Indeed,

“the Church is not a reality closed in on herself. Rather, she is permanently

open to missionary and ecumenical endeavor, for she is sent to the world to

announce and witness, to make present and spread the mystery of

communion which is essential to her, and to gather all people and all things

into Christ, so as to be for all an “inseparable sacrament of unity”.

The unity of all divided humanity is the will of God. For this reason He

sent His son, so that by dying and rising for us he might bestow on us the Spirit

of love. On the eve of his sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus himself prayed to the

Father for his disciples and for all those who believe in him, that they might be

one, a living communion. This is the basis not only of the duty, but also of the

responsibility before God and his plan, which falls to those who through

Baptism become members of the Body of Christ, a Body in which the fullness of

reconciliation and communion must be made present.

How is it possible to remain divided, if we have been “buried” through

Baptism in the Lord’s death, in the very act by which God, through the death of

His Son, has broken down the walls of division? Division openly contradicts the

will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and inflicts damage on

the most holy cause of proclaiming the Good News to every creatures.