Every year since 1908, beginning on January 18 and ending on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25, the Graymoor Institute and the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement have been promoting a focused week of prayer and reflection, asking God to bring unity to the body of Christ.
The idea of an octave of prayer for unity among Christians was the brainchild of Servant of God Fr. Paul Wattson, who conceived of it while he was still an Anglican. He and his community would go on to enter full communion with the Catholic Church in 1909, only a year after founding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us:
“Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her. This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his disciples:‘That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, … so that the world may know that you have sent me.’The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC, 820)
Please join us this month in praying for greater unity among all who profess belief in the Holy Name of Jesus.
Find more resources to pray for Christian Unity at chnetwork.org/unity.
