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We Hold this Treasure -- this Gift -- in Earthen Vessels...A period of eight days - ending on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25 - has become an octave of intensified prayer for the restoration of Christian unity. This annual "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" has been celebrated internationally since the 1960s. The theme and scripture for the Week of Prayer 2003 have been selected from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians: "We hold this treasure --- this gift-- in earthen vessels ... therefore we do not lose heart..." (4:5-18). This passage boldly witnesses to the authenticity of Paul's apostolic ministry which is received as the gracious gift of God in Jesus Christ --- "so that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us" (v. 7). The treasure is '`the light of the gospel." Paul proclaims that God has caused the light, "the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (v. 4), to shine in his heart--- "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (v.6). The "Joint Message" for the Week of Prayer 2003 speaks of persevering in the hope for Christian unity, especially in moments "(w)hen Christian divisions may seem insurmountable." The "Joint Message" affirms that "(u)nity within our churches, like the unity of the church, will only be given and sustained by the grace of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Spirit." Ecumenism is "the movement to promote unity among Christians." The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism notes that "(c)oncern for restoring unity pertains to the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike." (n. 5) Since the Council prayer, dialogue, and other ecumenical initiatives are integral parts of the Church's life. The barriers which have divided Christians from full communion contradict the will of Christ: "That all may be one" (John 17:21). In As the Third Millennium Draws Near (1994), an apostolic letter on preparation for the Great Jubilee 2000, Paul John Paul II declared that "the Church should invoke the Holy Spirit with ever greater insistence, imploring from him the grace of Christian unity." (TMA n. 34) The theological grounding for prayer for Christian unity is clear: "We are all however aware that the attainment of this goal cannot be the fruit of human efforts alone, vital though they are. Unity, after all, is a gift of the Holy Spirit." (TMA n. 34) The apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium, (2001) again addressed the ecumenical dimension of Jubilee 2000. The Pope's words seem to echo the theme of the Week of Prayer 2003: "The ecumenical journey is certainly still difficult, and will perhaps be long, but we are encouraged by the hope that comes from being led by the presence of the Risen One and the inexhaustible power of his Spirit, always capable of new surprises." (TMI n. 12) The Holy Father's commitment to ecumenism has been a constant in his pastoral ministry as Bishop of Rome. Ut Unum Sint, his 1995 encyclical letter on commitment to ecumenism, placed a heavy emphasis on the primacy of prayer in the practice of "spiritual ecumenism" - conversion to the Gospel, fidelity to holiness "along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians." (UUS nn. 21-27) Quoting a seminal insight from the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, the encyclical reaffirms "spiritual ecumenism" as “the soul of the whole ecumenical movement." According to Pope John Paul II, common prayer, “the prayerful union of those who gather together around Christ himself," should be accorded a place of honor. In spite of divisions, common prayer effects a deeper awareness "of how little divides them (Christians) in comparison to what unites them." Moreover, gatherings of Christians before Christ in prayer will engender "the courage to face all the painful human realities of their divisions ..." (UUS n. 22) Ut Unum Sint acknowledges that "(e)cumenical prayer" is at the service of the Christian mission and its credibility." (UUS n. 23) The common prayer for unity of brothers and sisters in Christ who are separated from full ecclesial communion encounters Christ in a way which instills hope, "entrusting to him the future of their unity and their communion." (UUS n.26)
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