Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021

« Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit »  Jn 15,5-9

In January 24, 2021, nearly 600 people gathered on Zoom or YouTube for a celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit" Jn 15:5-9. This is the gospel verse and theme chosen this year. The texts and prayers were prepared by the Monastic community of GrandChamp «  Communauté de GrandChamp », a community residing in Switzerland and gathering about fifty nuns from different churches and countries. Their vocation is reconciliation among Christians.

The ceremony was opened by the prayer of Reverend Lambie of the United Church, who invited us to light a candle. The following prayers were said by Father Margryan of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Irwin-Gibson of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Lépine of the Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal, and Bishop Casian of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese.

In the actual context of conflict, division and suffering, the theme and songs could not have been more timely, as they were adopted long before the pandemic. They allowed the participants to pray for Christian unity, the unity we all long for. The song "Light of God" was sung in several languages and made us think of all Christians around the world.

Through these virtual means, we were able to connect with different countries and Canadian provinces. Among the hundreds of participants of different rites, there were our friends from Ontario, others from Vancouver... and others from the rest of North America.

It was good to see on our screens the familiar faces of some 80 people from our Movement.

The celebration was attended by representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches.

During his homily, Archbishop Lépine, Catholic Archbishop of Montreal, expressed, among other things, how much he thanked God for the joy of praying together... this joy that he found among Christians of different rites and "... it is Jesus Christ himself who brings us together." This joy touches him very much, "...it is a gift of the Holy Spirit that frees us from hostilities that we may experience in our divisions...".

We are grateful to Mrs. Adriana Bara, the director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism for the confidence she has shown in us; we feel that our presence in the planning committee is important to contribute to ecumenical dialogue and to the different moments of prayer.

We cannot say enough how much the week of prayer for Christian unity is an invitation to remember the words of Jesus to his disciples: "May they all be one so that the world may believe".

F & M, Montreal - April 2021