Our Work Toward Unity …

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

In our work for unity, our ecumenical efforts must have deep spiritual foundations. They must be, above all, Christ-centered. Christ is the Savior, the “one Mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2: 5).  His Cross is our source of strength, his Resurrection, our hope. As we continue building bonds of unity, we do so as co-workers with Christ. For “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127: 1).  

It follows that our efforts must be directed towards conversion, an interior conversion to a deeper life in Christ. This transformation enables us to see one another in a new light. According to the Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, the conversion is that “change of heart and holiness of life” which, “along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians,” should be considered as “the soul of the whole ecumenical movement” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 8).  

Only by building our ecumenical hopes on this more in-depth relationship with Christ can we genuinely aspire to the goal of full communion. Because we already share bonds of unity in Christ through Baptism, we can never be satisfied with anything less than full communion. The deepening of this biblical and ecclesial sense of fellowship within our respective traditions is vital for further progress towards unity between Lutherans and Catholics. May the Holy Spirit lead us along this path! 

In this Lenten season, as we look toward Easter, a passage from the First Letter of Peter is an appropriate way of acknowledging the great things that God has done for us, as we work to honor his name: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an imperishable inheritance” (1 Peter 1: 3). 

May this be our prayer, and the conviction that sustains us! 

Excerpted from:

ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER 
POPE JOHN PAUL II 
TO A DELEGATION FROM THE WORLD LUTHERAN FEDERATION 

Friday 4 March 1988