The Sword of the Spirit
Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity
January 18-25, 2025
From the International
President
Day 1: Saturday, January
18, 2025
Day 2: Sunday, January
19, 2025
Day 3: Monday, January
20, 2025
Day 4: Tuesday, January
21, 2025
Day 5: Wednesday, January
22, 2025
Day 6: Thursday, January
23, 2025
Day 7: Friday, January
24, 2025
Day 8: Saturday, January
25, 2025
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an important opportunity for us in the
Sword of the Spirit to pray for unity with Christians from around the world and
from various church traditions. We work with materials provided by the Faith and
Order Commission of the World Council of Churches in conjunction with the
Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity of the Catholic Church. The brothers and
sisters of the monastic community of Bose in northern Italy were tasked with
composing the 2025 materials. This year, our theme is “Do you believe this?”
(John 11:26), from Jesus’ conversation with Martha, the sister of Lazarus.
We are remembering also the 1,700th anniversary of the 1st Ecumenical Council
(in 325) of Nicaea (modern-day İznik, Türkiye). This Council was called to
address the controversary about the nature of the Son of God, particularly His
divinity. This argument was causing division among and within Christian
communities.
In our Sword of the Spirit document called Community Life and Order, we state
that a member must be orthodox in beliefs, which means accepting the truths
stated in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. Thus, we regard the creeds as an
expression of our unity in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The reflections after the daily scripture will be by “patristic fathers,” whose
writings influenced the beliefs and doctrines of the members attending the
council. The selections come from Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian authors.
This will be an opportunity for us to encounter some writers we may not have
encountered before. We hope this journey together through the Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity will increase our hope for greater unity among us and among the
Christian people.
NOTE: On five of the days, we have included special intercessions for our Sword
of the Spirit Regions, as well as a prayer for unity in the Lord’s Day prayers.
From the
International President
Dear brothers and sisters:
Each week, across the entire
Sword of the Spirit, we celebrate the Lord’s Day. During the prayer after the
meal, we pray: “Have mercy, Lord our God, upon your people who belong to your
Son, the dwelling place of your Spirit. Grant that the Christian people
throughout the world may attain the unity for which Jesus prayed on the eve of
His sacrifice, and that we in the Sword of the Spirit may be a sign of that
unity and a means of its growth.”
The foundational call of the Sword of the Spirit is to be ecumenical and, more
importantly, to be a catalyst for ecumenism and a means for it to flourish
across our communities.
Cognizant of the reality that, after over 50 years of existence, SOS membership
still remains overwhelmingly Catholic, and that a vast majority of our
communities are still single-confession Catholic communities, the Lord has led
us to include ecumenism as an important strategic priority of the Sword of the
Spirit in the coming many years. It
is a reminder from the Lord of this most important element of our life as a
community of communities.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity should have great meaning for us in the
Sword of the Spirit as we celebrate it each year.
We encourage all our communities, especially our Catholic communities, to
use this week as a starting point for doing something more meaningful in this
area throughout the year.
The
prayers from this year have been adapted from the materials made available by
the World Council of Churches and the Vatican and developed for use in the SOS
by a small team of brothers and sisters from across our communities.
The main theme for this year is, “Do You Believe this?” Taken from the
Gospel of John, it is Jesus’ question to Martha after he declares himself to be
the resurrection and the life.
It is also his question to each of us as we follow him as disciples on mission.
May our observance of this week of prayer lead us to that unity for which Jesus
prayed.
Manny de Los Santos, International President of the Sword of the Spirit
For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there
are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from
whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through
whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Patristic Reading
from the Greek Tradition
Behold the mysteries of love, and then you will contemplate the bosom of the
Father, which the only-begotten Son of God has revealed. God himself is love,
and through love he is contemplated by us. And while in his ineffable reality he
is Father, in his compassion he has become for us mother. Clement of
Alexandria [c. 150-215], Which Rich Man Will Be Saved? 37:1-2
We bless you, O Lord, Father of lights; from you descend every good thing and
every perfect gift. You have made the world and all that it contains, you are
the Lord of heaven and earth. You created all the peoples that dwell on the
earth. For them you established the order of time and the boundaries of their
space. Merciful Father, in Jesus, your Son, you proclaimed the good news of the
kingdom. God of all consolation, call us to follow you. Make firm for us the
work of our hands.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your unity, the unity of the Trinity.
We pray that all Christians might seek the oneness of heart and mind,
that is your desire for all your people.
We ask that you might guide us as we seek to live out your unity, one
with another, and as we pray for that unity this week.
Amen
Leader: Let us thank him this day especially for the unity we enjoy in the Body
of Christ and for our call to ecumenical life in the Sword of the Spirit. May we
all become perfectly one, so that the world may know and believe. Lord our God,
you are bringing us into the fullness of unity through the work of your Son, our
Lord, Jesus Christ.
Group: Now we live with him through the Holy Spirit, and we look for the day
when we will dwell with him in your everlasting kingdom.
Being helped by my Protestant brother and sister to come into a personal
relationship with Christ was only the beginning of many blessings in ecumenical
community. I realized how much I took for granted in my Catholic faith. The
regular experience of sharing life, prayer, and mission with Christians from
other traditions helped me see that I needed to grow in understanding what I
believed as a Catholic and why. My faith has been greatly strengthened through
my experience in ecumenical community.
My Protestant and Orthodox friends tend to emphasize different practices of
piety, different perspectives on celebrating Christian feasts, and ask good,
honest questions about what I believe (sometimes exposing my lack of knowledge).
They have taught me to love scripture and understand the biblical foundation for
what my Church teaches.
I experience my relationships with other Christians giving me a new heart for
living the Christian life. I have a much deeper love for evangelism, for reading
and studying scripture, for spontaneous charismatic prayer, and for
discipleship. I’ve been challenged to grow in the Lord.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without
form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God
was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and
there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the
light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
Patristic Reading
from the Greek Tradition:
God cannot be seen by human eyes but is seen and perceived through his
providence and works. Just as one who sees a fully equipped ship entering port
assumes that it has a pilot to guide it, so we must perceive that God is the
pilot of the entire universe, even though he is not visible to the eyes of the
flesh because he is incomprehensible. Theophilus of Antioch [2nd century], Ad
Autolycus, I:5
We praise you and give you thanks, God of steadfast love, for the great signs of
your favor and your mercy for the whole creation. You have made all things. You
declared them to be good, for your Spirit dwells in them all and they belong to
you, O Lord. We confess, O Lord, your glory in the immense starry spaces of the
universe and in the smallest seed of life. We give thanks for the works of your
hands and the creation of all people. Blessed are you for the air that gives us
life. Blessed are you for the earth that nourishes us. Blessed are you for the
water that quenches our thirst. Blessed are you for the fire that warms us.
Giving voice to the whole creation and gathering every grief and joy, we glorify
you and give you thanks. Lord God, you made all things, and will soon
transfigure them, clothing them with your glory.
Intercession, Europe
Lord in heaven, we pray that in Europe you would deepen our heart desire to be
united with our brothers and sisters across the churches.
We ask that you give us the grace to embrace those who are different from
us, and to welcome one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Add to our communities from across our different churches we cry out to
you, O Lord!
When I prayed with Debbie, an Orthodox Christian, I was moved by her reverence
and the way she began her prayer with repentance by proclaiming Psalm 51. Donna
and Jeanne, two Catholic women, spurred me on as they each spent years caring
selflessly for family members through debilitating illnesses. Deena, a Reformed
Christian, inspired me to root myself in God’s word by studying Scripture and to
prioritize my marriage and family while serving in my community and parish.
Mike, a Baptist, bonded with my husband over farming, heavy machinery, and
serving the poor. Our children served with Mike on mission trips and came home
grateful and energized by helping people in need.
Jennifer, a Lutheran sister in my own community, has become a trusted, beloved
friend. We began by taking walks, pushing strollers and trading prayer
intentions. We grew to rely on each other in our service and our call as wives
and mothers. Amid our differing beliefs and practices, we have celebrated
together her child’s adoption, first communions, weddings, and confirmations. We
have shared life’s joys and sorrows. It is “for such a time as this” that God
brought us to ecumenical community—and it has been very good!
One day, Jesus’ prayer, “that they may all be one,” will finally be answered. We
will join with believers from every nation, race, tribe, and tongue to praise
our God, who saved us by his death and resurrection. On that day, we will share
fully in the gifts that our brothers and sisters bring to the body of Christ.
Through my ecumenical friendships, I have tasted and seen!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without
him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the
light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for
testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He
was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that
enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home,
and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed
in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld
his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
Patristic Reading
from the Armenian Tradition
He took upon himself all human
passions, excluding sin. That is: he hungered who gives food to all the living.
He thirsted who gives the water of life to his believers. He felt weariness who
is the rest of the weary. He slept who always kept Israel vigilant. He wept who
wiped away every tear from all eyes ... He took on our passible body, so that he
who is impassible might suffer with the passible body and he who is immortal
might die with the mortal body, to free us who are guilty. Gregory of Skevra
[12th/13th centuries], On True Faith and Pure Conduct in the Virtues, 15-17
You have shared our life in all things; you died as we all die. Son of David,
desired by the righteous and the prophets, you have proclaimed the good news to
the poor; you have proclaimed the time of favor. You came to break the chains of
bondage; you went about doing good; you have opened the way to the presence of
God for all. You came into the world in weakness and poverty; you have
confounded the proud with your humility; you have drawn the weary and
overburdened to you. You are the Lamb of God and our Shepherd, the Servant of
God and our Lord: you were made sin for us, our Redeemer.
Intercession, Middle
East
Lord of All, in the Middle East we pray that despite of, and in the middle of,
the current troubles and trials you might lead us to learn to love one another
more and see you in one another.
Deepen our desire to explore the richness and beauty of the different parts of
the church and to find ways to join together as we seek your unity, to serve our
churches. Amen.
By my teenage years, I began attending only on special occasions—a pattern that
continued throughout my adult life, especially during my 16 years living and
working abroad. Everything changed at the age of 37 when, while living in
Amsterdam and visiting Lebanon, I encountered the People of God Community.
Through their outreach meetings, I felt a profound transformation as the Holy
Spirit touched my life. Over time, I sensed God calling me back to Lebanon and
commit to a life of discipleship in my home country.
My spiritual life flourished within the Catholic church—the tradition I had
always known. Then, during my third year of formation at POG, my Catholic
brothers in the community encouraged me to rediscover my Orthodox roots.
Initially, I hesitated but decided to honor this invitation, even though I was
unfamiliar with the Orthodox Liturgy.
For the first three months, attending the Orthodox church felt foreign. I would
attend the Orthodox service in the morning and the Catholic church at night.
During Lent, I used to drive a long distance to join Orthodox brothers in
another parish who explained the liturgy, helping me slowly uncover the beauty
of the Orthodox service. Six months later, our family began to find joy in our
Orthodox roots. We formed strong connections with our priest and parish
community.
This journey also revealed the painful reality of division between the Orthodox
and Catholic churches. In the summers, when we would go up to the mountains for
summer break, we were far from the nearest Orthodox church. I found it difficult
to be away from our parish, particularly from the Eucharist. I called our priest
and asked if I could receive the Eucharist at the Catholic church. He
acknowledged the wound of division between our churches—a wound that can only be
healed at a higher level— and encouraged me to embrace this pain by refraining
from receiving the Eucharist; to pray for this unity, recognizing our shared
suffering and longing for reconciliation.
Today, I am deeply grateful for the POG brothers’ encouragement and for the
ecumenical life we live in this community. Experiencing the richness of both
Orthodox and Catholic traditions has been a profound blessing, enhancing my
appreciation for the unity we all share in Christ. I pray fervently for the
unity of His Church, so we may share and cherish the wealth of our diverse faith
traditions together.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot. The lines have
fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I bless the
LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also, my heart instructs me. I keep the
LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore, my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.
For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit. Thou
dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy
right hand are pleasures for evermore.
God the Father was very merciful:
he sent his creative Word who, in coming to deliver us, came to the very place
and spot in which we had lost life, and broke the bonds of our fetters. His
light appeared and made the darkness of the prison disappear and hallowed our
birth and destroyed death, loosing those same fetters in which we were
enchained. Irenaeus of Lyon [c. 135-198], Demonstration of the Apostolic
Preaching, 38
Blessed are you, O Christ, Firstborn of all creation: you are crowned with glory
and honor. At your Name every knee will bend in heaven and on earth and under
the earth and every tongue will confess that you are the Lord. Let us rejoice
and sing praises to you, O Christ, beloved Son of the Father: you are the Risen
One, you call us to live in you. We adore you, we glorify you, for you are King
of kings and Lord of lords: you have opened to us the kingdom of heaven. We give
you thanks at all times and we bless your Name. You are with us always, to the
end of the age.
Intercession
All gracious God, we thank you for the many ways you have led your church to be
more united, particularly over these last fifty or more years.
We thank also you for those men and women who have stepped out to lead us
towards greater unity. We pray now
that you raise a new generation of leaders, inspired and gifted to carry on your
work of ecumenism around the world.
Amen.
My name is Emilio Rivera. I am an Evangelical Christian, and I have been a
member of a Pentecostal church since my childhood. Some time ago, God did
something very important and new in my life, when he called me to be part of
Arbol de Vida, an ecumenical community in Costa Rica.
My nuclear family is Evangelical, although the rest of my relatives are
Catholic. Because of negative experiences with some of them and how they
expressed their Catholicism I came to regard it erroneously. Both family
tensions arising from denominational issues, and mutual ignorance, strengthened
this perception. When I compared my
Christian life and my ecclesial commitment with the lives my relatives led, I
always thought that they came up short, while I lived my Christianity in the
right way.
But my life took a turn when I became acquainted with “Cristianos en Marcha,” an
ecumenical outreach of the community. There, I got to know young Catholic
students who had, by far, a deeper relationship and experience of God than I was
used to see in my immediate context. Also, it was encouraging to see
Evangelicals and Catholics sharing the same space of prayer and worship in
fraternal love.
Soon after, I felt that the Lord was calling me to belong to the community and
embrace its way of life. I serve a lot in my church and there "I had everything
I needed," so it was difficult to divide my time in both places. But, one day
when I attended Mass with my Catholic friends in the outreach, God used the
priest's message to confirm my call and helped me make the decision.
Living in an ecumenical community is a true blessing and one of my best
decisions. Here, I can appreciate the way Catholics express their faith and draw
closer to God. As an evangelical who lives and prays for unity, that is
something I treasure in my heart.
For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and
bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you
shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will
cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within
you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart
of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my
statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. You shall dwell in the land
which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your
God.
Patristic Reading
from the Syriac tradition
It is not correct to say that the Spirit departs when we sin to return when we
are converted ... What good is it for me if he dwells in me after I have become
righteous? If at the time of the fall he does not dwell in me, does not give me
a hand, and does not raise me up, how will I feel his help? What physician, when
he sees a sick person who falls sick, leaves and abandons him, to come to him
when he becomes healthy? Is it not more useful that the physician be with the
sick person at the time of his illness? Philoxenus of Mabbug [c. 440-523], On
the Inhabitation of the Holy Spirit
You are the Spirit breathed upon the face of Adam, making human flesh a living
being. You are the Spirit given by the Risen One; our sins have been forgiven.
You are the Spirit sent at Pentecost; you opened the way for the Gospel to reach
all people. You are the Spirit that awakens our prayer; we are held in God’s
love. You are the Spirit of God poured out upon the dead: the graves will be
opened, and the dead will rise.
Intercession, North
America
Heavenly Father, renew our faith in you and bind us together through your love.
We hold before you this day the members, communities, and outreaches of the
North American Region of the Sword of the Spirit. Bless the ecumenical
communities, the single-tradition communities, the various college outreaches
and community building efforts of all. Bless the efforts at uniting the North
American Region’s young adult outreaches, especially through the work of Kairos.
May all the members of the Region embrace gladly our unique call and gift of
ecumenism. We hold this day and this week before you through Jesus Christ, your
only begotten Son, in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I teach Spanish classes and a Mexican culture class at Michigan State
University, where my community has an active University Christian Outreach (UCO)
chapter. As you can imagine, I find myself constantly translating and moving
back and forth between two different languages and two different cultures.
It often reminds me of what we can experience as members of an ecumenical
community.
I grew up in a community neighborhood. Among the families there was a great mix
of Protestants and Catholics. We kids often asked questions and made comments
about the differences in our church traditions and practices.
Before I was old enough to understand any of the important differences that
exist among Christians, or to grieve the brokenness that exists in the body of
Christ, I experienced love and unity in the power of the Holy Spirit. Later, as
a teen and young adult, I received a lot of helpful teaching about ecumenism.
One fun experience of this was in my UCO women’s household in college. We
had Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox women living together, so we made and
used three different Advent wreaths!
Today, I feel equipped to flow culturally & linguistically between different
environments, some that include just people from my Catholic tradition and
others which do not. I had a
Russian Orthodox student in my Mexican Cultures class who made fascinating
comparisons between Mexican Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy. Because of my
community experiences, I was able to understand and affirm his contributions to
our class discussions.
I greatly treasure the international, intercultural, and ecumenical life we have
in the Sword of the Spirit. My life is richer for it, personally and
professionally.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the
calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were
called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in
all.
The church is one, spread abroad
far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many
rays of the sun but one light, and many branches of a tree but one strength
based in its tenacious root ... in the same manner the church, shone over with
the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one
light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body fractured. Her
fruitful abundance spreads her branches over the whole world. Cyprian of
Carthage [c. 210-258], On the Unity of the Church, 5
At the empty tomb, you entrusted the news of your resurrection to the women;
deliver all messengers of the Gospel from fear. On the road to Emmaus, you
explained the law and the prophets to the disciples; open our minds to
understand the Scriptures. In the upper room, you gave your friends the gift of
your peace; help us to keep this peace by our mutual love. On the lakeshore, you
appointed Peter as shepherd of your flock; uphold with your Spirit the leaders
of our communities. On the mountain, you gathered the dispersed disciples before
you returned to the Father; give unity in faith and charity to those who believe
in you.
God of all, give us the grace in Latin America to open our doors wide to those
who would welcome the opportunity to be part of an ecumenical community of
communities, the Sword of the Spirit. Give us the grace to open our hearts to
receive those you bring to us that we might fulfill your call that we might be
one. Help us Lord to have wisdom to work with our churches so that our call and
efforts to be ecumenical might be well received and supported by our bishops and
church leaders. Amen
My father, as a young man, had sought God with the Jehovah's Witnesses. When he
was fifteen, my paternal grandfather died, and some Catholic religious counseled
him in the faith. My mother hailed from the Costa Rican South Pacific and was
raised a Catholic by her fisherfolk family. Years later, after an Evangelical
renewal meeting, my parents got married and decided to become members of an
Evangelical church. Since then, we have all lived there our commitment to
Christ.
At one point, I resented my church, blaming the entire system for manipulating
my faith. But in the midst of that struggle, God redirected my heart to the
depth of who he is. I was invited
to a men's night of the community’s Christian outreach, where, in the presence
of Catholics supposedly alien to Pentecostalism, I experienced an unexpected
familiarity and the power of the Spirit. How was it possible that being in an
environment totally different from mine, I could perceive the Holy Spirit
manifesting himself in me and in them? Something good was happening and it came
from God. This charismatic and ecumenical experience led me to desire again to
receive all that God offered me, including unity with Christians from other
churches in a covenant community.
This is how my ecumenical journey began and has been until today. Amid the
differences, Christ remains the source of unity, and his Spirit moves us to walk
humbly towards God as brothers and sisters. We do not limit him with our
divisions, and he continues to invite us to the banquet of unity in Christ.
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had
directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And
Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the
close of the age.”
Such is the power of faith in
Christ, such the excess of his grace: As the element of fire, when it meets with
ore from the mine, straightway of earth makes it gold, even so and much more
baptism makes those who are washed to be of gold instead of clay. The Spirit at
that time falling like fire into our souls, burning up the “image of the
earthly,” and producing “the image of the heavenly,” fresh coined, bright and
glittering, as from the furnace-mold. John Chrysostom [c. 350-407], Homily on
the Gospel of John, X:2
For having called us to faith in baptism, for the communion we share in the New
Covenant, for your presence in the holy Church—we give you thanks and praise.
For the witness of persecuted Christians, for the suffering of their martyrdom,
for their participation in Christ’s passion—we give you thanks and praise. For
all servants of communion, for those who pray and work for the reconciliation of
churches, for those who offer their lives for unity—we give you thanks and
praise.
Intercession, Asia
Lord and King of Kings, help us, we cry, to meet Protestants and Orthodox who
have an ecumenical heart and desire for community.
Give us the grace to welcome them, and to see that we need them as they
need us to fulfil your call for us to be an ecumenical community of communities
here in Asia. Amen.
Many thought at first that our relationship was a bit crazy. A Lebanese Melkite
Catholic and a Mexican Roman Catholic? We learned that the Sword of the Spirit
was our common culture; one we both understood.
During our courtship, I learned about our differences as Catholics from Melkite
and Roman traditions. For example, in the Melkite Church, children receive
communion as soon as they are baptized, and there can be married priests. We
found we needed to learn more about our own church’s traditions as we learned to
embrace each other’s.
I attended many Melkite weddings in Lebanon over the years, and I always found
the ceremonies to be quite beautiful. There is a lot of symbolism, and the
couple is active during the ceremony, even though they do not make any vows. The
weddings feel very solemn. Nevertheless, as the prayers were always in Arabic, I
was never able to understand them!
It wasn’t until I attended the wedding of a dear Orthodox community friend in
Michigan, that it all clicked for me. Orthodox share many common things with
Melkite Catholics, especially when it comes to the ceremonies and liturgy. The
wedding was like a Melkite wedding, having many of the same symbols, prayers and
chants. How blessed was I that they were in English, and I could understand the
depth of the prayers offered for the newlyweds.
Again, I was struck by the huge blessing of the intercultural and ecumenical
richness that we have in the Sword of the Spirit. I have lived with brothers and
sisters of other cultures and other churches; we have the Sword of the Spirit as
our common culture, and the Lord who unites us.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the
dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his
people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from
their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor
crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
Whoever lives in love in this creation breathes the life coming from God. While
yet in this world, he breathes the air of rebirth. In this air the righteous
will delight at resurrection. Love is the kingdom whereof our Lord mystically
promised the disciples that they would eat in his kingdom: “You shall eat and
drink at the table of my kingdom.” What should they eat, if not love? Love is
sufficient to nourish a man instead of food and drink. This is the wine that
gladdens the heart of man. Blessed is he who drinks of this wine! Isaac of
Nineveh [7th century], First Collection, 43
O Christ the Lord, who for our sakes became poor and who promise that the poor
will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, you fill us with your riches. O Lord Jesus,
meek and humble of heart, who reveal a new world to those who trust in you, you
give us your fullness. O Christ the Lord, who knelt and prayed with your face to
the ground, you who in sadness traced a way of consolation, you are the joy that
nothing and no one can take away from us. O Lord Jesus, who cast down rulers and
powers and who clothe peacemakers with a glorious robe, you transform us into
your image.
Loving God, we delight in being your creations, and in the knowledge that you
love all whom you have made. We
pray that our unity, the unity for which we have been praying this week, the
unity that is expressed in selfless love one for another, might be a strong
witness of your love for all humankind.
We pray that this witness might lead many to come to know you as their
loving creator Father and gracious Lord.
Maranatha – come Lord Jesus!
Leader: Let us thank him this day especially for the unity we enjoy in the Body
of Christ and for our call to ecumenical life in the Sword of the Spirit. May we
all become perfectly one, so that the world may know and believe. Lord our God,
you are bringing us into the fullness of unity through the work of your Son, our
Lord, Jesus Christ.
Group: Now we live with him through the Holy Spirit, and we look for the day
when we will dwell with him in your everlasting kingdom.