Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “St. Paul's conversion offers us a model that shows us the way to full unity. Unity in fact requires a conversion: from division to communion, from broken unity to healed and full unity. This conversion is the gift of the Risen Christ, as it was for St. Paul.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where on Sunday, January 25, he celebrated the second Vespers of the Conversion of the Apostle Saint Paul, for the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
“Conversion implies two dimensions. In the first step we recognize our faults in the light of Christ, and this recognition becomes sorrow and repentance, desire for a new beginning. In the second step we recognize that this new road cannot come from us. It consists in letting ourselves be conquered by Christ...Conversion demands our yes, my "pursuit"; it is not ultimately my activity, but a gift, a letting ourselves be formed by Christ; it is death and resurrection...And only in this renunciation of ourselves, in this conforming to Christ are we also united among ourselves; we become "one" in Christ. It is communion with the risen Christ that gives us unity.”
Commenting on the theme for the Week of Prayer this year - “That they may become one in your hand” (Ez 37:17) – the Pope mentioned that this passage of the Bible from the Prophet Ezekiel “is presented by two sticks being joined into one in the prophet's hand, which represents God's future action.” The first part of Chapter 37 contains the famous passage of the dry bones and the resurrection of Israel, by the work of God's Spirit. “There follows from this a theological pattern analogous to that of St. Paul's conversion: God's power is first and he works the resurrection as a new creation by his Spirit. This God, who is the Creator and is able to resurrect the dead, is also able to bring a people divided in two back to unity. Paul -- like Ezekiel but more than Ezekiel -- becomes the chosen instrument of the preaching of the unity won by Christ through his cross and resurrection: the unity between the Jews and the pagans, to form one new people. Christ's resurrection extends the boundary of unity: not only the unity of the tribes of Israel, but the unity of the Jews and the pagans; the unification of humanity dispersed by sin and still more the unity of all who believe in Christ.”
This verse of the Prophet Ezekiel was chosen as the theme of the Week of Prayer 2009, by Koreans, who “in the division of the Jewish people into two kingdoms, saw themselves reflected, the children of one land who, on account of political events, have been divided, north from south. Their human experience helped them to better understand the drama of the division among Christians.” The Pope continued, saying “God allows his people a new unity, which must be a sign and an instrument of reconciliation and peace, even at the historical level, for all nations. The unity that God gives his Church, and for which we pray, is naturally communion in the spiritual sense, in faith and in charity; but we know that this unity in Christ is also the ferment of fraternity in the social sphere, in relations between nations and for the whole human family.”
The prayer for these days, the Pope said, has also become intercession for the various situations of conflict that afflict humanity: “the prophetic power of the Word of God does not weaken and it repeats to us that peace is possible, and that we must be instruments of reconciliation and peace. For this reason our prayer for unity and peace always requires confirmation by courageous gestures of reconciliation among us Christians. Once again I think of the Holy Land: how important it is that the faithful who live there, and the pilgrims who travel there, offer a witness to everyone that diversity of rites and traditions need not be an obstacle to mutual respect and to fraternal charity. In the legitimate diversity of different positions we must seek unity in faith, in our fundamental 'yes' to Christ and to his one Church. And thus the differences will no longer be an obstacle that separates but richness in the multiplicity of the expressions of a common faith.”
In the conclusive part of the homily, the Holy Father mentioned that on January 25, 1959, 50 years ago, Blessed Pope John XXIII first mentioned - in the chapter room of the Monastery of St. Paul, after having celebrated solemn Mass in the Basilica - his desire to convoke “an ecumenical Council for the universal Church.” “From the providential decision, suggested to my venerable predecessor, according to his firm conviction, by the Holy Spirit, there also derived a fundamental contribution to ecumenism...The fruits of theological dialogues, with their convergences and with the more precise identification of the differences that still remain, led to a courageous pursuit in two directions: in the reception of what was positively achieved and a renewed dedication to the future.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 26/1/2009)
