Pope’s Mission Intention for January 2013

January 03, 2013: Pope’s Mission Intention for January 2013 - that the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
This month Pope Benedict asks us to pray for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East. There Christians are caught amid conflicts between peoples and religions. Many Middle Eastern Christians have fled their homelands. We pray that those who remain may find strength through the Holy Spirit, who draws Christians into communion. The unity of Christians in the Middle East can be an effective witness for reconciliation.

Last September Pope Benedict travelled to the Middle East to show his support for Christians there. He issued his Apostolic Exhortation after the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, which had met in October 2010.

In his Exhortation Pope Benedict reminded Middle Eastern Christians of their origin. “The example of the first community in Jerusalem,” he wrote, “can serve as a model for renewing the present Christian community and making it a place of communion for witness. The Acts of the Apostles give us a simple yet touching early description of this community born on the day of Pentecost: a company of believers who were of one heart and soul. Communion is not the result of our own human efforts. It comes about, above all else, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who creates in us the faith which works through love.”

“May Christ’s followers in the Middle East, Catholics and other Christians as well, be one in courageously bearing this difficult yet exhilarating witness to Christ! May they know the encouragement and support of the Christian world as a whole.”
In that Spirit, let us offer ourselves this month for Christians in the Middle East.