On Tuesday, January 18, the Octave for Christian Unity, technically known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022, begins in the northern hemisphere and will conclude on Tuesday, January 25. On this occasion, Cardinal Mario Grech and Cardinal Kurt Koch invite all Christians to pray for unity and to continue walking together.
In a joint letter sent on October 28, 2021, to all bishops responsible for ecumenism, Cardinal Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Cardinal Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, presented some suggestions for implementing the ecumenical dimension of the synodal process in the local churches. "In fact, both synodality and ecumenism are processes that invite us to walk together," the two cardinals wrote.
Synod in an ecumenical spirit
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022, prepared by the Near East Council of Churches, under the motto "We have seen his star appear in the east and have come to pay him homage" (Mt 2:2), offers a good opportunity to pray with all Christians for the Synod to take place in an ecumenical spirit.
Reflecting on the subject, the two cardinals affirm: "Like the Magi, Christians also walk together (synodos) guided by the same heavenly light and facing the same darkness of the world. They too are called to worship Jesus together and to open their treasures. Mindful of our need to be accompanied by our brothers and sisters in Christ and of their many gifts, we ask you to walk with us during these two years and we earnestly pray that Christ will lead us closer to Him and that we will thus draw closer to one another."
For this reason, the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity offer this prayer, inspired by the theme of the Week 2022, which could be added to the other proposed intentions, and which can help to join the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:
Heavenly Father,
as the Magi went to Bethlehem guided by the star,
may your heavenly light also guide the Catholic Church during this synodal period, so that she may walk together with all Christians.
Like the Magi they were united in their worship of Christ,
bring us closer to your Son, so that we may be closer to one another,
let us be a sign of the unity you desire for your Church and for all creation. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
