“We know how many trials face our brothers and sisters of the Holy Land and the Middle
East,” and we as Christians gather around them, and for all of us this becomes an
additional factor of communion.” These were just some of Pope Benedict XVI’s words
at the traditional Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square this Sunday,
which falls in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Pope
recalled that the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: One in the apostles’
teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer was chosen by the Churches and
Ecclesial Communities of Jerusalem, which perform a valuable service, “strengthened
by a witness that, in some cases, has come even unto the sacrifice of life.”
The
Holy Father explained that only, “by remaining firmly united to Christ,” can the Church
efficaciously conduct Her mission, “despite the limitations and failings of Her members,
despite the divisions,” which are, he said, “an offense to Christ,” and it is only
in Him, the only Head and the only Lord, that we may find ourselves again united,
“by the inexhaustible strength of his grace.”
The serious commitment to conversion
to Christ, said Pope Benedict, “is the way that leads the Church, in God’s own time,
to full visible unity.”
After the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope
Benedict greeted pilgrims in many languages, including English, in which he spoke
of the liturgical proclamation of the generous response of the first disciples to
the call of Christ:
May each of us continually recognize the call of the Lord
in our own lives and engage in the work of evangelization without fear or reluctance.
The Week of prayer for Christian Unity will conclude this Tuesday, January
25th, with the solemn singing of Vespers to mark the feast of the conversion
of St. Paul.