One-hundred and sixteen years ago this week, our founder, Servant of God Father Paul Wattson, looked around the Christian world and saw nothing but disunity. Moved by this, he resolved to initiate an annual Week of Prayer, during which Christians across the world could come together and pray for the unity of all believers, echoing Christ’s prayer the night before He died:
“That all may be one, as You are in Me and I in you, may they also be one in us. That the world may believe it was You who sent Me.”
This prayer was not only meant for the Apostles gathered in the upper room during the Last Supper, but it was Christ’s prayer for us, the Universal Church. Although it is a simple prayer, it can be transforming and empowering. But it can also be difficult to understand and carry out.
As Christians, we sometimes offer conflicting images. We are weak, but strong. Poor, yet enriching. Division within our faith is the most conflicting image of all. It is a fact that we are still divided from each other; congregation from congregation and church to church.
We do not yet know the full nature of the oneness the Lord desires for us, or the precise form our unity should take. But we do know this: our present disunity cannot be God’s will for us. To Jesus, lines of division were not real. They were simply figments of the human imagination. He crossed over them as easily as you and I step over lines on a sidewalk.
Still, division is not an easy problem to solve. But during Week of Prayer, we focus our attention on Jesus, the Person of Christ, whom we believe is the source of hope and reconciliation. In Jesus, there is no east or west, no male or female, no servant or master. In Him, we are each called to preach the word, in every season and at all times.
We look to the Person of Jesus for understanding and renewed strength in our quest for unity. We recognize that the call for Christian unity is not a choice, but a responsibility. We assume this responsibility by accepting Jesus as Lord. We must become the instruments of God’s Spirit, who will bring divided belief into one belief.
During Week of Prayer, we are reminded that we have much in common, while we still have a long way to go in seeing Christ’s prayer brought to fulfillment. Let us continue striving for one Lord, one faith and one baptism. Let us also continue to pray for a stronger faith in God and a more enduring love for one another.
And let us be known as the generation that sought to bring Christ’s prayer of unity to fulfillment; the generation that acted justly, loved tenderly and walked humbly with God.
