So we come to the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. What does that mean? Nothing. It should mean nothing. We should always pray for Christian Unity. And we should work toward it.
During this week, I started out with a simple focus on our Coptic brothers and sisters. As I learned more, I realized two things.
1) I had no idea how much they suffer in Egypt.
2) Unity begins with opening your eyes.
We are one body in Christ. If someone is stabbing you in the arm, how can you not notice? But that is what usually happens. Christians suffer all over the world. People Suffer all over the world. Minor differences of how something is said or what someone thinks was said over a thousand years ago, has become a divide in our minds more difficult to cross that any physical distance. But unlike a physical distance, all you need to do to cross it is decide to. Free will, the gift from God that makes us human, is the key.
When the year of the Eucharist ended, did we stop thinking about our Lord's gift to us?
When the Marian year ended, did we stop loving the Mother of our Lord the Theotokos (God-bearer)?
When the month of the rosary ends in October, do we put our rosaries away?
When Easter passes, do we forget that Christ died and conquered death?
Actually...yes. Alot of people do. And that is the problem. But if you say should we, everyone would say no. So why stop working for unity tonight at midnight.
My blog will continue to explore the beauty of the Coptic faith and the Roman Catholic faith.
I will also probably bang my head off of the keyboard when something happens in politics that is stupid beyond all hope of reason.
I'll be very Italian at times. Try to be funny at times. And I will try to draw attention to what I think is serious.
In short, I'll just be me.
2 comments:
That's absolutely true DavidNic. We ARE one body in Christ. Our division has lasted way more than it should have. I remember the first time I stepped into a Catholic church (I was a child)and how beautiful it was and how peaceful I felt...just like I do in a Coptic church. I wondered then as I wonder now "we're so similar...why do we have different labels?"
My husband and I make a point of celebrating mass in both churches.
Your post certainly struck a chord in our household, and we will keep praying for the unity of His children.
Thank you for reading. And thank you so very much for Praying. I have learned so much about the Coptic Faith this week, and look forward to learning more.
As I learn more, I realize how right John Paul II was when he called unity:
"The Church breathing with both of its lungs."
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