Pope: Reaching the finishing line together

“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: