See preceding page for earlier entries today, 1/23/11.
ANGELUS TODAY:
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
In the liturgy today, we hear 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. Entrusting you to the care of Mary, Mother of the Church, I invoke upon you and your families God’s abundant blessings.
Conversion to Christ
is the way toward communion
23 JAN 20111 (RV) - “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 in St. Peter’s Square this Sunday, which falls in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Pope said this year's Prayer Week theme - "One in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer" - was chosen to recall the focus of the original Christian community of Herusalem.
“Only by remaining firmly united to Christ,” can the Church efficaciously conduct her mission, he said, “despite the limitations and failings of her members, despite the divisions (which are) an offense to Christ,” and it is only in Christ that Christians may once again be united thanks to “the inexhaustible strength of his grace.”
Serious commitment to conversion (penitence). the Pope said, 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:
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.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words today:
Dear brothers and sisters:
These days, from January 18-25, we are observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This year, its theme is a passage from the Acts of the Apostles which summarizes in a few words the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem: "They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayers" (Acts 2,42).
It is very significant that this theme was chosen by the Churches and Christian communities of Jerusalem, gathered together in the ecumenical spirit. We know how many trials must be faced by our brothers and sisterns in the Holy Land and the Middle East.
Their services thus become even more valuable, attested by testimony that, in some cases, has demanded the sacrifice of lives. Thus, while we welcome joyfully the reflection point offered to us by the Christian communities of Jerusalem, we also gather closely around them as this becomes for everyone another factor of communion.
Even today, in order to be, in this world, a sign and an instrument of intimate union with God and of unity among all men, we Christians must base our life on these four 'hinges': the faith of the Apostles transmitted in the living Tradition of the Church; fraternal communion; the Eucharist; and prayer.
Only in this way, while remaining firmly united to Christ, can the Church effectively fulfill her mission, despite the limitations and shortcomings of her members, despite our divisions, which already, the Apostle Paul had to face in the community of Corinth, as the second Reading this Sunday reminds us:
"I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose" (1Cor 1,10).
Having said that, he affirmed that every division in the Church is an offense to Christ, and that, at the same time, it is always in Christ, the one Head and Lord, that we can find ourselves reunited through the inexhaustible power of his grace.
This then is the always-relevant call of the Gospel even today: "Repent, because the Kingdom of the Heavens is at hand" (Mt 4,17).
The serious commitment of conversion to Christ is the way that will lead the Church, at the time that God disposes, to full visible unity. A sign of this are the ecumenical meetings taking place these days and multiplying around the world.
Here in Rome, besides the presence of many ecumenical delegations, a meeting begins tomorrow of the Commission for Theological Dialog between the Catholic Church and the Ancient Oriental Churches.
And day after tomorrow, we will conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with the solemn celebration of Vespers on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.
On this journey, may we be accompanied always by the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 23/01/2011 19:44]