“While experiencing these days the painful situation of our divisions, we Christians
can and must look to the future with hope” , Pope Benedict XVI told a packed basilica
of St Paul’s outside-the-walls Wednesday evening, “because Christ's victory means
to overcome everything that keeps us from sharing the fullness of life with Him and
with others”.
Bringing to a close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,
the Pope celebrated Vespers in the ancient Church dedicated to a man who from zealous
persecutor of Christians, was “transformed into a tireless apostle of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ”. Metropolitan Gennadios, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
Rev. Canon Richardson, the Personal Representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury
to Rome, as well as all the representatives of different Churches and Ecclesial Communities,
were among those gathered around Paul’s tomb together with the Pope Wednesday evening.
Tracing the story of Paul’s conversion, the Holy Father mediated on his transformation,
which he said, “is not the result of a long inner reflection and not even the result
of personal effort. It is first and foremost by the grace of God who has acted according
to his inscrutable way”.
By the same means, the Pope said, Christian unity
can and will only come about by the grace of God. He said we must be “patient and
confident” and above all “transformed and conformed to the image of Christ”.
“In
the dominant culture of today, the idea of victory is often associated with immediate
success. For the Christian, however, victory is a long and, in the eyes of men, a
not always linear process of transformation and growth in goodness. It is achieved
according to God's timing, not ours, and requires of us a profound faith and patient
endurance”.
All Christians must act together for the common good united in
Christ, Pope Benedict said, “called to share his mission, which is to bring hope to
the places where there is injustice, hatred and despair. Our divisions diminish our
witness to Christ”. Listen to Emer McCarthy's report: