Click here for today’s Scripture readings.
Acts 22: 3-16
Mark 16: 15-18
This feast marks the conclusion of the Week of Universal Prayer for the Unity of Christians. Both the feast and the week of prayer are extraordinarily important to all Passionists and to all who are affiliated with them. In his great retreat of 1720 Saint Paul of the Cross experienced a powerful longing to see the churches restored to full unity. In 1845 the Venerable Ignatius Spencer of Saint Paul the Apostle became a pioneer of the pious practice of prayer by all Christian traditions for reunification. Other famous figures on all sides took up this cause and participated at various times of the year in joint prayer together. In the United States Father Paul Watson, a former Episcopal Priest and founder of the Graymoor Friars, is perhaps the most tangible and popular representative of this movement. All who have joined in developing the Theology of Ecumenism have based their texts on a quotation from John 17: 21: “That all may be one, Father, as we are one, that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Today Pope Benedict XVI is reiterating his Apostolic Letter of October 11, 2011: “Motu Proprio Data” PORTO FIDEI (The Door of Faith). This document is the Bull of Indiction for a new Holy Year oriented toward THE YEAR OF FAITH. It has long been a concern of Pope Benedict to address issues of indifference , skepticism and outright condemnation of Christianity whereby it is now stylish or fashionable to be atheistic or agnostic. This is particularly true in Europe and North America. The concern for these pastoral needs is compelling the Pope to a new sense of urgency to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and connecting it with an examination of the term “The New Evangelization” which was coined by Blessed John Paul II.
Last week, at the beginning of the Week of Prayer, Pope Benedict identified Ecumenism and Evangelization as being part of “a single Movement by the Holy Spirit.” As you are reading this, the Pope is actually stating that the autobiography of Paul from the Acts of the Apostles and “The Great Commission” from the Gospel of Mark have relevance to each and every one who professes Jesus Christ. All must know The Way, go The Way and show The Way. Thus do we come to know the meaning and the context of the concept of The New Evangelization.
“The Year of Faith, from this perspective, is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world. In the mystery of his death and resurrection, God has revealed in its fullness the Love that saves and calls us to conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins” (cf. Acts 5:31).
The new Holy Year – The Year of Faith – begins October 11, 2012. Reflecting on the conversion of Saint Paul anticipates the inauguration of this new event in the life of the Church.
- Father Jerome Vereb, C.P.
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