The Holy Father reminded us of this in his Apostolic Letter entitled At the Beginning of the New Millennium. “The prayer of Jesus in the Upper Room — ‘as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us’ (Jn 17:21) — is both revelation and invocation. … Christ’s prayer reminds us that this gift needs to be received and developed ever more profoundly. The invocation ‘ut unum sint’ [that they may be one] is, at one and the same time, a binding imperative, the strength that sustains us, and a salutary rebuke for our own slowness and closed-heartedness. It is on Jesus’ prayer and not our own strength that we base the hope that even within history we shall be able to reach full and visible communion with all Christians” (no. 48).
It is in Jesus’ name that we pray and it is in His prayer that we will be given the wisdom, the strength and the perseverance to walk together towards full Christian unity. Let us open our minds and hearts to the Holy Spirit as we now reflect together.
“A new millennium is opening before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall venture, relying on the help of Christ. … At the beginning of this new century, our steps must quicken as we travel the highways of the world. … After the enthusiasm of the Jubilee, it is not to a dull everyday routine that we return. On the contrary, if ours has been a genuine pilgrimage, it will have as it were stretched our legs for the journey still ahead” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 58, 59). With these words, Pope John Paul II closed his Apostolic Letter on the new millennium. How prophetic these words now seem in light of the recent terrorist attacks and wars throughout our world. Indeed, God in His omniscience gave to the human family the unique gift of a Jubilee Year with all of its attendant graces, a time of respite, so to speak, before a new set of challenges. Having “stretched our legs for the journey” during the Holy Year, and relying on the help of Christ, our steps must indeed now quicken to bring the Prince of Peace to our world so much in need of peace.
But, how are Christians to bring the Prince of Peace, and His gift of peace, to the world if we are divided amongst ourselves? In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus prays to His Father: “…That they may be one even as we are one…that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (Jn 17:23). Christian unity is not a platitude or a sentimental musing. Christian unity is a necessary component to evangelize the world, and to bring lasting peace to all women and men. With war raging in Afghanistan, Israel and Columbia, to name just a few, as Christians, we do not have the luxury of living in division. Indeed, our steps must quicken toward reconciliation among ourselves so that “the world may know that [the Father] sent [the Son] and has loved [each person on this earth].”
In January 2002, in Assisi, Italy, religious leaders from around the world gathered at the invitation of Pope John Paul II to pray for peace in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Palestine, violence in Ireland and many other places. He reminded us: “That commitment [to the cause of peace], born of sincere religious sentiment, is surely what God expects of us. It is what the world seeks in religious men and women” (Address 1/28/02). In the Afghan conflict in particular, we see a troubling problem which has existed throughout human history, and is once more seeking to infiltrate society: violence resulting from religious conviction. Pope John Paul II reminds us: “… that religious people and communities should in the clearest and most radical way repudiate violence, all violence, starting with the violence that seeks to clothe itself in religion, appealing even to the most holy name of God in order to offend man. To offend against man is, most certainly, to offend against God” (Address 1/24/02).
How are we Christians of various denominations to work for peace? As I mentioned earlier, we must continue in earnest to overcome our internal divisions and work for true Christian unity. As the unified voice and presence of Jesus Christ in the world, we will then be able to give a more effective witness to non-believers. In order to bring Christian unity about, however, and the peace we all so long for, we need prayer. The Holy Father tells us: “To build the peace of order, justice and freedom requires…a priority commitment to prayer, which is openness, listening, dialogue and finally union with God, the prime wellspring of true peace. To pray is not to escape from history and the problems which it presents. On the contrary, it is to choose to face reality not on our own, but with the strength that comes from on high, the strength of truth and love which have their ultimate source in God. Faced with the treachery of evil, religious people can count on God, who absolutely wills what is good. They can pray to him to have the courage to face even the greatest difficulties with a sense of personal responsibility, never yielding to fatalism or impulsive reaction” (Address 1/24/02, 6).
Yes, rooted in prayer we must work together to dissolve our internal tensions, and work together to work for peace in our world. As Christians, our lives must be living icons of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whom we profess as Lord, and claim to follow as His disciples. How are non-Christians to come to believe in the Prince of Peace except through our prayers and example? The great Apostle St. Paul raises the same question in his Letter to the Romans. He writes: “How are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? … Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ” (Rom 10:14,17). Peace in the world will only truly come when we are all united in Christ. Therefore, we must work to spread His Gospel. In bringing the message of Christ to non-Christians, and by entering into dialogue with them, we begin to diffuse tensions that are used by some as an excuse to commit violent acts. This dialogue cannot be one in which truth is made relative so that we can all “get along.” No, we must enter into a familial dialogue, a dialogue which sees in the other my brother or sister in the human family. We need to open a dialogue which sincerely seeks to understand the other, and to discover the gift of God in him or her. Only in this way will true and lasting peace be able to reign.
If peace is to reign in the hearts of all persons, and in our world, there is an urgent need to overcome the divisions among us, the followers of Jesus Christ, and also to overcome the divisions between all persons of whatever faith. Violence and war will only be stopped when divisions are no longer allowed to go unchallenged, and peace will reign when women and men learn to love one another. As religious women and men of the third Christian millennium, as followers of Jesus Christ, we have the responsibility to work for peace in our world. As disciples of the Prince of Peace, I recall to each of us the great commission of Jesus Christ addressed to us at our baptism. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19,20). Also, I remind us of the great gift He has given us. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Given this commission and gift, we must develop concrete ways to foster that unity for which Christ prayed on the eve of His death.
We have already reflected on the necessity of prayer. Prayer is the soul of the ecumenical movement. If prayer is not at the center of all we say and do, then all our efforts, however well-intentioned and well-executed, will fail.
We must also discover new ways and strengthen proven ways by which our people in the various churches may become more aware and conscious of ecumenical principles. Of course, at the level of theology, experts continue to discuss and clarify. But, at the grassroots level, more must also be done. Within our schools and centers of Christian formation, in parish small discussion groups, the ingredients towards fuller Christian unity must be explored and implemented.
We must increase our ecumenical witness. There are many issues affecting our society about which we do agree: ending violence in all its expressions, including domestic abuse; strengthening family life and reaching out to the poor and marginalized who live among us, around us and beyond us. Pope John Paul writes in the above-mentioned Apostolic Letter: “Beginning with intra-ecclesial communion, charity of its nature opens out into a service that is universal: it inspires in us a commitment to practical and concrete love for every human being” (TMI, 49). You are implementing this concrete and practical revelation of God’s love in your outreach to the wider community in such programs as Meals on Wheels, Good Shepherd Alliance (for the Homeless), community blood drives, and a Habitat for Humanity home now under construction. I congratulate you on these efforts and, echoing St. Paul, urge you to make even greater progress (cf. Thess 4:10).
Yes, the events of Sept. 11 have awakened us to the challenges of the new millennium, and to the serious consequences of Christian division. Let us commit ourselves today to overcoming division in our own hearts, in our own churches and ecclesial communities, divisions between all people — Christians and non-Christians — in society, and in our world. Indeed, the Jubilee Year was a great year of grace, and it was a time to rest and stretch our legs. Having been rejuvenated by the grace of God, it is time to continue our work in building the Kingdom of God on earth. We have many challenges before us in this new millennium, but we take courage in the fact that we serve the one true God, we have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit as our Advocate and Guide. May we be able to say with St. Paul in his Second Letter to St. Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). O Lord, that they may all be one — soon and very soon. Amen!
Previous Articles in This Series
• The New Evangelization: 'Set Out into the Deep'
• Evangelization in the Work Place
(This address was given at the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast of the Great Falls Ecumenical Council at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Great Falls on March 9. This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
