This Wednesday, January 18, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins. The theme for this year is “Do good; seek justice,” a quote from Isaiah 1:17.
For some years now, the Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity have been commissioning prayer materials from various churches and confessional communities in various geographical regions.
For this year’s Week of Prayer, which runs until January 25, the Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul, the material has been prepared by the Minnesota Council of Churches (USA).
On its website, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity notes that “the context in which these texts were written is that of the extrajudicial execution of George Floyd and the trial of the policeman responsible for his death.”
“As Minnesota’s Christian communities sought to respond to the anguish of these events, they also acknowledged their own complicity. The Church is called to be a sign and instrument of the unity that God wills for all his creation (cf. Lumen gentium, 1), but division among Christians weakens its effectiveness. Christians must repent of their divisions and work together to be a source of reconciliation and unity in the world.”
For each day we suggest a theme for reflection accompanied by a biblical quotation:
Day 1: “Learn to do good”. Readings: Isaiah 1:12-18: Learn to do good, make just decisions, restore the oppressed, do justice to the fatherless, defend the widow’s cause. Lk 10:25-36: He asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”.
Day 2: “When justice is done…”. Readings: Proverbs 21:13-15: When justice is done, the righteous rejoice, and evildoers tremble. Matthew 23:23-25: They do not concern themselves with what is most important in the law, which is justice, mercy and faith.
Day 3: “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly”. Readings: Micah 6:6-8: What the Lord requires of you, mortal being, is only to respect the law, to practice mercy with love and to walk humbly with your God. Mark 10:17-31: Good Teacher, what must I do to attain eternal life?
Day 4: “There is the cry of the oppressed”. Readings: Ecclesiastes 4:1-5: I looked again at all the oppressions that are committed under the sun. There is the cry of the oppressed, and they find no comfort! Strength in the hands of their oppressors, and they find no comfort! Matthew 5:1-8: Blessed are those who mourn, for God himself will comfort them.
Day 5: “Songs of Zion in a strange land”. Readings: Psalms 137:1-4: Those who deported us asked us for songs, joy those who were oppressing us: “Sing us a song of Zion”. Luke 23:27-31: Women of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Day 6: “As you did it to one of these my little ones… you did it to me”. Readings: Ezekiel 34:15-20: I will seek the lost sheep and bring back the strayed; I will bind up the wounded and strengthen the weak. Matthew 25:31-40: Truly I tell you, whatever you have done for the least of these my brethren, you have done for me.
Day 7: “What is now will not necessarily remain so”. Readings: Job 5:11-16: Thus the poor man lives in hope, for wickedness shuts his mouth. Luke 1:46-55: He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
Day 8: “Justice restores communion”. Readings: Psalms 82:1-4: Do justice to the orphan and the poor, defend the humble and the needy. Luke 18:1-8: Will not God do justice to his elect, who cry out to him day and night?
As part of these celebrations, Pope Francis will preside at Vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome on Wednesday, January 25, the Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle.
St. Paul – then known as Saul – was knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus by Jesus himself through a light from heaven that shone on him and his companions. He was blinded and then converted to Christianity.
