Polish Churches prepare theme for Christian Unity week
The turbulent lessons of Poland’s troubled history, the forthcoming European football
championships and the teachings of St Paul all feature in the theme for this year’s
week of prayer for Christian unity. This annual observance is celebrated between
January 18th and 25th in the northern hemisphere, while it is
usually marked at Pentecost by the Churches of the southern hemisphere. Each year,
different Churches of a particular region are asked to prepare guidelines on a biblical
theme that can form the basis of dialogue and worship throughout this week. For 2012,
the Churches in Poland have drawn up a text focused on the theme from St Paul’s First
Letter to the Corinthians, 15:51-58: “We will all be changed by the Victory of our
Lord Jesus Christ” To find out more, Philippa Hitchen spoke with the secretary
of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Bishop Brian Farrell….
Listen:
“The theme
is very fundamental – all of life is a struggle to reach, not only our ultimate goals,
but as we go through life, we have to struggle to achieve all the goals we set ourselves….as
Christians we understand that victory, in its full sense, can only come from the redemptive
grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the ecumenical group which met in Poland
to prepare the texts for this year decided that the idea of victory, which comes naturally
out of their history, a history of ups and downs, conflicts and struggles, is very
opportune when we think about the great efforts that are being made to bring about
the restoration of unity among all Christians….
The Churches have also drawn
a connection to this year’s European Football Championships to be held in Poland and
Ukraine…
I can’t say much about the present day football championships,
but the idea, as St Paul says is like the effort of the runner in the stadium who
runs to reach the goal, so certainly when they refer to the football championships
as a similar model for life and for the spiritual struggles that will eventually bring
us our true happiness, I think they point to something people can easily understand….
Polish
history is also a history of defeats which caused great suffering and lead to the
need of the people to find the roots of their perseverance and I think here too divisions
among Christians is a defeat, the result of sin and pride….but out of our weakness
out of our need, perhaps we will have the energy to work harder for the restoration
of that unity….”