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 18^th and 25^th 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….”