austraLasia
1396
Count to seventy
seven - slowly, then... (much better than counting
sheep!)
ROME: 18th January 2006
-- While there is a lull in exciting news around the region, count to
seventy-seven, slowly, and for each digit counted, pray for the strength to
forgive someone who has wronged you: one practical step on the tough road to
reconciliation, suggested in the new worship resources for this years Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity, but probably just as useful after a community
meeting! The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is a worldwide movement of
Christians of many denominations, languages, and great diversity of race and
culture. We are engaged in praying and working for the unity of Christians in
the service of the wider redemption, unity and peace of all peoples. Every year
the dates are the same, 18 to 25 January, regardless of the days of the week.
Praying for unity does not involve prayer for any specific schemes for
unity. The theme for 2006 is 'Where two or three are gathered in my name'
from Matthew 18.20. The theme was chosen by the Churches of Ireland, at the
request of the international committee, which represents Faith and Order of the
World Council of Churches, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity.
In our EAO Region there are reasons why this Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity might be overlooked, two main reasons: for that
part which belongs to the Southern hemisphere, it is holiday time, and it makes
little sense to follow dates set by Europe or North America. Hence we find
that this week is usually relocated by common consent amongst the Christian
Churches, to sometime in May or more accurately, close to Pentecost. The
second reason is that it is about Christian unity specifically, not so much
interfaith dialogue, and it is the latter which many countries in our Region are
more likely to be dealing with.
All that aside, this
is a significant event for the Universal Church, whatever the dates. An
earlier austraLasia reminded us that Day Seven of the 18-25 January dates for
the majority who follow these, is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, a true
'icon' for ecumenism not just for the difficult pre-ecumenical situation he
worked in but for the style and theological underpinning with which he tackled
his pre-ecumenical circumstance. That alone is a productive theme to
follow up.
A little history - as ever, interesting.
The 'week' is really an octave, that is it lasts eight days not seven. It
began back in 1908 at the suggestion of an Episcopalian (American Anglican, for
want of a better description) priest who founded a religious group at Graymoor,
near New York's Hudson Valley, called the Society of Atonement. One notes
that the following year he and his entire 'Society' were received into the Roman
Catholic Church, something which could have been a setback for Christian Unity
for some! Anyway, the idea caught on (the praying for bit, not necessarily
the conversion). The foundation of the World Council of Churches in 1948,
the Vatican II Decree on Ecumenism in the '60s which called prayer 'the soul of
ecumenism' both gave a fillip to the 'Octave' in
question and subsequently a joint committee was put in place involving the Faith
and Order Commission of the WCC and the Council for Promoting Christian Unity in
Rome. They ask ecumenical groups to draft themes and texts for each
year. This is the third time the Irish group has done so. They have
chosen Mt18:15-22, the passage about "where two or three are gathered in my
name...".
For once, the Vatican website comes up tops on this one. It contains all the texts,
useful liturgical ideas and the factors in the Irish ecumenical context which
helped them fashion this theme. You can do no better than to go there at
www.vatican.va and seek it out.
And keep your eye on
either ANS or austraLasia (remember, you can see them both quickly and easily by
using RSS) for some reflections on events around the world during this
week. But could you also pray for one other event this week, please?
The well-subscribed (250 plus) Salesian Family Week Spirituality Week which
opens in Rome tomorrow. I note two or three from Pakistan in the
group. That must be a first!
VOCABULARY
fillip: it actually refers to the striking of
something with a finger nail flicked from the thumb, hence in general referes to
a vigorous stimulus or 'push' given to something.
come up
tops: colloquial expression meaning does exceptionally well