Let us ask the Lord to inspire a new
spirit of harmony and solidarity among the Churches
After greeting the consuls
general at the Apostolic Delegation and praying at the Basilica
of the Garden of Gethsemane on Saturday afternoon, 25 March, the
Holy Father went to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
for an Ecumenical Meeting with representatives of the Churches
and ecclesial Communities in the Holy Land. During the meeting
the Pope gave the following address in English. Here is the
text.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
1. With profound gratitude to the
Most Holy Trinity I make this visit to the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and I greet all of you in the grace
and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank your Beatitude
Patriarch Diodoros for your fraternal hospitality and for the
kind words you have addressed to us. I greet Your Beatitude
Patriarch Torkom, and all the Archbishops and Bishops of the
Churches and Ecclesial Communities present. It is a source of
great joy to know that the Heads of Christian communities in the
Holy City of Jerusalem meet frequently to deal with matters of
common interest to the faithful. The fraternal spirit which
prevails among you is a sign and a gift to the Christians of the
Holy Land as they face the challenges before them.
Need I say that I am
greatly encouraged by this evening's meeting? It confirms that
we have set out on the path to knowing one
another better, with the desire to overcome the mistrust and
rivalry inherited from the past. Here in
Jerusalem, in the City where our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose
from the dead, his words ring out with special
resonance, particularly the words he spoke on the night
before he died: "that they may all be one; . . . so that
the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn
17:21). It is in response to that prayer
of the Lord that we are together here, all followers of the one
Lord despite our sad divisions, and alI
conscious that his will obliges us, and the Churches and
Ecclesial Communities we represent, to walk
the path of reconciliation and peace.
This meeting reminds me of
the historic meeting here in Jerusalem between my predecessor
Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch
Athenagoras I, an event which laid the foundations of a new
era of contacts between our Churches. In the
intervening years we have learned that the road to unity
is a difficult one. This should not discourage us. We must be
patient and persevering, and continue to
move ahead without wavering. The warm embrace of Pope Paul and
Patriarch Athenagoras stands out as a
prophetic sign and source of inspiration, urging us on to new
efforts to respond to the Lord's will.
2. Our aspiration to fuller
communion between Christians takes on a special meaning in the
Land of the Saviour's birth and in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Here, in the presence of the different Churches and Communities,
I wish to re-affirm that the ecclesial note of universality
fully respects legitimate diversity. The variety and beauty of
your liturgical rites, and of your spiritual, theological and
canonical traditions and institutions, testifies to the richness
of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal
Church, as it has developed down the centuries in the East and
in the West. There exists a legitimate diversity which in no way
is opposed to the unity of the Body of Christ, but rather
enhances the spIendour of the Church and contributes greatly to
the fulfilment of her mission (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 50).
None of this wealth must be lost in the fuller unity to which we
aspire.
3. During the recent Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity, in this Year of the Great
Jubilee, many of you joined in prayer for greater understanding
and cooperation among all Christ's followers. You did so in the
awareness that all the Lord's disciples together have a common
mission to serve the Gospel in the Holy Land. The more united we
become in prayer around Christ, the more courageous we shall
become in confronting the painful human reality of our
divisions. The pilgrim path of the Church
through this new century and the new millennium is the path
traced out for her by her inherent vocation to unity. Let us ask
the Lord to inspire a new spirit of harmony and solidarity among
the Churches in facing the practical difficulties which beset
the Christian community in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
4. Fraternal cooperation among
the Christians of this Holy City is no mere option; it has a
significance all its own in communicating the love which the
Father has for the world in sending his only Son (cf. Jn
3:16). Only in a spirit of mutual respect and support can the
Christian presence flourish here in a community alive with its
traditions and confident in facing the social, cultural and
political challenges of an evolving situation. Only by being
reconciled among themseIves can Christians play their full part
in making Jerusalem the City of Peace for all peoples. In the
Holy Land, where Christians live side by side with the followers
of Judaism and Islam, where there are almost daily tensions and
conflicts, it is essential to overcome the scandalous impression
given by our disagreements and arguments. In this City it should
be eminently possible for Christians, Jews and Muslims to live
together in brotherhood and freedom, in dignity, justice and
peace.
5. Dear Brothers in Christ, it
has been my intention to give a clearly ecumenical dimension to
the Catholic Church's celebration of the Jubilee Year 2000. The
opening of the Holy Door at the Basilica of Saint
Paul-outside-the-Walls, at which so many Churches and Ecclesial
Communities were represented, symbolized our passing together
through the "door" which is Christ: "I am the
door, if any one enters by me, he will be saved" (Jn
10:9). Our ecumenical journey is precisely this: a journey in
Christ and through Christ the Saviour to the faithful fulfilment
of the Father's plan. With God's grace the 2,000th anniversary of the Incarnation of the Word will be
a
"favourable time", a year of grace for the ecumenical
movement. In the spirit of the Old Testament Jubilees, this is a
providential time for us to turn to the Lord in order to ask
forgiveness for the wounds which the members of our Churches
have inflicted upon one another down the years. This is the time
to ask the Spirit of Truth to help our Churches and Communities
to engage in an ever more fruitful theological dialogue, which
will enable us to grow in the knowledge of the truth and come to
the fullness of communion in Christ's Body. From the exchange of
ideas our dialogue will then become an exchange of gifts: a more
authentic sharing of the love which the Spirit unceasingly pours
into our hearts.
Your Beatitude reminded us of
Christ's prayer on the eve of his Passion and Death. This prayer
is his last will and testament, and it challenges us all. What
will be our response? Dear Brothers in Christ, with hope-filled
hearts and unfailing trust, let us make the Third Christian
Millennium the Millennium of our new-found joy in the unity and
peace of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
|
