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Week of Prayer for Christians' Unity
18-25 January 2011
During the Week for Christians' Unity,
the Community of Sant'Egidio, wherever it is,
devotes to the invocation for unity its evening prayer meetings,
that gather every community.
Rome:
Santa Maria in Trastevere:
17 January, 8:30 pm
Prayer with the participation of an Ecumenical delegation of the Church of Finland, led by the lutheran bishop of Tampere, Matti Repo, and by the roman catholic bishop of Helsinki, Teemu Sippo.
24 January, 8:30 pm
Prayer with the participation of a delegation of the VELKD, Union of the German Lutheran Evangelical Churches, led by the president, Dr. Johannes Friedrich, bishop of Lutheran Evangelical Church of Bavaria, and by Prof. Dr. Friedrich Weber, bishop of the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Braunschweig, responsible for relations with the Catholic Church.
More dates in Rome:
Wednesday 19 January
- PARROCCHIA DEI SANTI AQUILA E PRISCILLA, via Pietro Blaserna 113, ore 19.00: preghiera con padre Iurie Hincu, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
- CHIESA DI SANTA MARIA IMMACOLATA E SAN GIUSEPPE BENEDETTO LABRE, via Taranto, ore 19.30: preghiera con il pastore Antonio Adamo, della Chiesa valdese.
- PARROCCHIA BEATO GIOVANNI XXIII, Via Giuseppe Lucchetti Rossi, ore 18.30: preghiera con padre Nicu Voinea, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
- PARROCCHIA SAN VIGILIO, Via Paolo Di Dono 218, ore 19.45: preghiera con il pastore Jens-Martin Kruse, della Chiesa evangelica luterana.
- PARROCCHIA SANTA MARIA STELLA MARIS, Viale dei Promontori 113, Ostia, ore 19.00: preghiera con padre Gheorghe Militaru, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
Friday 21 January
- PARROCCHIA DEI SANTI FRANCESCO E CATERINA, PATRONI D’ITALIA, Circonvallazione Gianicolense 12, ore 19.00: preghiera con Valdo Bertalot, segretario generale della Società biblica.
- PARROCCHIA SAN MAURO ABATE, via Francesco Sapori 10, ore 19.00: preghiera con l’igumeno Filip Vasiltsev, della Chiesa ortodossa russa.
Saturday 22 January
- PARROCCHIA SANTA RITA A TORRE ANGELA, via Acquaroni 71, ore 17.00: preghiera con il pastore Antonio Adamo, della Chiesa Valdese
Sunday 23 January
- PARROCCHIA SAN GAUDENZIO A TORRE NOVA, via della Tenuta di Torrenova 114, ore 16.00: conferenza sul tema “L’Eucarestia e i poveri”, poi preghiera con padre Ion Florea, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
Monday 24 January
- PARROCCHIA SANTA MARIA ADDOLORATA, viale della Venezia Giulia 134, ore 19.00: preghiera con padre Constantin Balauca, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
- PARROCCHIA SANTISSIMO REDENTORE A VAL MELAINA, Via Monte Ruggero 63, ore 18.30: preghiera con il pastore Antonio Adamo, della Chiesa valdese.
- PARROCCHIA SANT’ALFONSO DE’ LIGUORI, via della Giustiniana 245, ore 19.30: preghiera con Valdo Bertalot, segretario generale della Società biblica.
- PARROCCHIA SANTA MARIA REGINA PACIS A MONTEVERDE, via Maurizio Quadrio 21, ore 18.30: preghiera con il pastore Jens-Martin Kruse, della Chiesa evangelica luterana.
- PARROCCHIA SAN GIUSEPPE A VIA NOMENTANA, via Francesco Redi 1, ore 19.30: preghiera con il pastore Paolo Ricca, della Chiesa valdese.
- PARROCCHIA SANTI SIMONE E GIUDA TADDEO A TORRE ANGELA, via di Torrenova 162, ore 19.00: preghiera con padre Gheorghe Militaru, della Chiesa ortodossa di Romania.
Genoa (Italy):
24 gennaio 2011, ore 20.30 - Basilica dell'Annunziata (Sala Frate Sole) - Conferenza di S.E. il vescovo di Brovary, vicario della diocesi di Kiev (Ucraina), Fedosij (Snigrëv), della Chiesa ortodossa ucraina - Patriarcato di Mosca, dal tema "La liturgia nella vita della Chiesa"
Milan (Italy):
19 Gennaio 2001, ore 20,00 - Incontro di preghiera con padre Kyrollos Aziz della Chiesa Copta d'Egitto - Chiesa di San Bernardino - Via Lanzone 13
Naples (Italy):
20 gennaio 2011, ore 17.30 - Presentazione del libro "La carità, parola antica che rende nuovo il mondo" a cura di Marco Gnavi. Interverranno Don Gino Battaglia (Comunità di Sant'Egidio), Igumeno Filipp (Chiesa Ortodossa Russa), Don Francesco Asti (Teologo), Rosanna Borzillo (Giornalista).
Turin (Italy):
24 gennaio 2011, ore 20.30 - Nella Chiesa di S.Lorenzo preghiera per l'unità dei cristiani presieduta da Padre Gawrguos Akmal, parroco dei cristiani copti ortodossi del Patriarcato di Alessandria d'Egitto a Torino.
Barcelona (Spain) :
20 gennaio 2011, ore 19.00 - Conferenza dal titolo "La Chiesa ortodossa Russa, oggi", con S.E. Innokenty, Arcivescovo della Lituania, Chiesa Ortodossa Russa - Academia de las Bones Letres, Clle Bisbe Caçador, Barcellona
 Wurzburg (Germany) :
Preghiera ecumenica nella Chiesa dei Francescani, 19 gennaio 2010, ore 19.
Presiedono: Il vescovo Anba Damian, vescovo copto per la Germania, l´abbate Michael Reepen dell`abbazia benedettina di
Münsterschwarzach e la Priora Sr. Dr. Friederike Immanuela Popp della comunitá evangelica Casteller Ring, Schwanberg.
Bruxelles (Belgium) :
Lunedi 24 Gennaio ore 20.00: Preghiera ecumenica, Chiesa Nostra Signora delle Riches Claires, presieduta da Mgr Johan Bonny, vescovo di Aaversa.
La Habana (Cuba) :
Venerdì' 21 Gennaio ore 19.00: Preghiera per l'unità dei cristiani, Casa de Paz y Diálogo de la Comunidad de Sant’Egidio. Compostela
663, entre Luz y Acosta, La Habana Vieja.
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Meditation for the Week for Unity
.jpg) Looking at his disciples when he was about to leave them, Jesus prayed “that they may become completely one.” Just before he said, “The Father and I are one.” Maybe looking at their faces, Jesus realized how much different they were one from the other and how this could have divided them. Then at the moment of being arrested Jesus reveals his dream and his hope for his disciple: that they may be one. As God, the Father Almighty, Lord of the world, is one with Jesus of Nazareth, he prays that his disciples may join the unity of this family. That they may be one!
And yet, we Christians are divided, our Churches and communities are divided. Not only are they different: different in the songs, in the forms of prayer, and in the ways of living. Many believers would not be able to explain the reason of this division among communities and Churches. We could say that the responsibility of these divisions and misunderstandings belong to people of the past and to moments far in history. One day the spirit of division entered among the believers. And yet, divisions are still among us.
Jesus prayed also for us. And indeed divisions are in our hearts; not only theologies but also attitudes of the one towards the other are divided.
Often we too are actors of division, of insensitivity, of misunderstanding! We are called to answer Jesus’ prayer that we may be one: we are called to answer in our life, everyday. But how?
Let us renounce the arrogant dictatorship of self, our calculations, our insensitivity… Let us renounce being ignorant about the other and living without love. We should all convert to love, stripping ourselves of the old and consolidated world that is within us, of the armor that keeps people away and wounds them. In the first letter to John we read: “God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 Jn 4:15-16)
We are all called to heal the great fractures of this world, of daily life, of our environments: those fractures that divide those who are nice from those who are not, the poor from the rich, the educated from the ignorant, men from women, ethnic groups from ethnic group, group from group, mine from theirs, those who are mine from those who are his, Christians from Christians, Christians from Jews, Christians from Muslims … The path we walk along is full of these fractures. Our home has these fractures. Our working place has these fractures. We are called to heal them with love. Let us not move war to anyone with our weapons, in a time of war for the world.
Our time is a difficult one. There are wars in many parts of the world. In Iraq, Holy Land, in many parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. There are natural calamities. Many men and women are suffering.
In this difficult world, let us defeat evil with good: with the good of love, with the good of prayer, with the good of hope, that hope in the Lord Jesus who always listens to us, and who will come soon and will give us peace.
Let us be one in love: let us make a pact of love with one another. Different in stories, in languages, in spirituality, in habits, in appearance… Let us be one in love among us believers. Let us be one among Christians and hatred and war will be defeated by love.
A force of unity will spring from this love! In the byzantine liturgy before the profession of faith, the deacon says: “Let us love one another, so that in unity of spirit we may profess our faith,”
Yes, in this Week of Unity let us start loving one another truly, so that we may profess our same faith in unity of spirit.
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