Enhet oppnås spesielt gjennom bønn
Dette var pave Benedikts overskrift over tankene han delte med de troende om bønneuken for kristen enhet kl 12 i går, i forbindelse med angelusbønnen.
Han sa videre at temaet for denne uken i år – uken som markeres hvert åt fra 18. til 25. januar – er hentet fra Markusevangeliet: «Han gir de døve hørselen igjen og får de stumme til å tale.» (Markus 7:37).
Han sa videre at han ville si mye emr om dette temaet torsdag 25. januar, når han skal lede den liturgiske markeringa av Bønnekuken for kristen enhet i kirken Paulus utenfor murene – som paven alltid gjør. Og han sa videre: «Jeg regner med å se mange av dere der, fordi enhet oppnås spesielt gjennom bønn, og bønnen tekkes Gud aller mest hvis den er felles og sterk.»
This year, the initial draft for the week, adapted later by the Mixed International Commission, was prepared by the faithful of Umlazi, in South Africa, a very poor city where AIDS has acquired pandemic proportions and where human hopes are very few.
But the risen Christ is hope for all. He is so especially for Christians. Heirs of division that occurred in past times, in this circumstance they have wanted to launch an appeal: Christ can do all. He «makes the deaf hear and the mute speak»; that is, he is able to infuse in Christians the ardent desire to listen to the other, to communicate with the other, and to speak with him the language of mutual love.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity thus reminds us that ecumenism is a profound dialogic experience, a mutual listening and speaking, knowing one another better. It is a task that all can undertake, especially in regard to spiritual ecumenism, based on prayer and on sharing what is possible for the time being among Christians.
I hope that the longing for unity, translated into prayer and fraternal collaboration to relieve human sufferings, will spread ever more at the level of parishes and ecclesial movements and among religious institutes.
I take advantage of the occasion to thank the Ecumenical Commission of the Vicariate of Rome and the city’s parish priests, who encourage the faithful to observe this week. Also, in a more general way, I am grateful to all those, in all parts of the world, who pray and work for union with conviction and constancy.
May Mary, Mother of the Church, help all the faithful to let themselves be opened ever more profoundly by Christ to mutual communication in charity and in truth, to be transformed in him into only one heart and soul (Acts 4:32).