On the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the shrine hosted an ecumenical vigil on Friday 24 January.
‘We are full of joy because, when we pray together, our common faith, our love for Jesus who gave his life for all of us, shines brighter than our divisions’. This is how Lida Ciccarelli, from the office for ecumenical dialogue of the diocese of Fiesole, introduced the prayer vigil for Christian unity in the Maria Theotokos shrine on Friday 24 January. Among the celebrants were: for the Catholic Church, the Bishop of Fiesole, Stefano Manetti; Pastor Lidia La Montanara of the 7th Day Adventist Christian Church of Valdarno; Fr Viorel Matei of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Deacon Paul Krieg of the Waldensian Church of Reggello. But, looking at the participants of the celebration, the representation of the different churches was even richer. There were members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, and the Baptist Church. The Catholic Church is also represented by members of the Latin, Ambrosian, Coptic-Catholic, Greek-Byzantine and Greek-Melkite rites.
This year, the readings and prayers for the entire Week for Christian Unity were prepared by the ecumenical monastery of Bose, in the province of Biella. The theme chosen is inspired by the passage from the Gospel of John: ‘Do you believe this?’ (John 11:26), words that Jesus addresses to Martha, in the story of the resurrection of Lazarus. A question that, in the year that marks the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicaea, also offers today’s Christians an opportunity to reflect on their common faith.
After the proclamation of the Word of God, Pastor Lidia, Deacon Paul and Bishop Stephen offered several points for reflection inspired by the passage from the Gospel of John.
‘Christ knocks down the wall of death, in him dwells all the fullness of God, which is life, eternal life,’ commented Pastor La Montanara. ’That is why death had no power over him, and the resurrection of Lazarus is a sign of his full dominion over physical death, which before God is like sleep. Believing in this, for us today, is a new certainty, the certainty in eternal life that from promise has become concrete truth’.
Deacon Paul Krieg invited those present to imitate Jesus who went out to the fragile, sick, wounded, different people. ‘He says to us, I give you the power to do. Jesus says, I go with you, I go with you, and I pray for these communities. I pray for all of us, that we may be able to go out to those we do not like, those who have offended us, those we do not know ‘’.
The last reflection was given byBishop Manetti, who observed: ‘The Nicene Creed reminds us that we all have one baptism. When we look at each other, the first thing we see in each other is a brother or sister. We are the same body, and we respect each other in our differences. But if it is true that we have one baptism, it means that we also have one vocation: I believe that Christ loved me and gave his life for me’.
At the end, the candle lighting ritual invited all present to be ‘light of the world’, each one a ‘bearer of the light of the Risen Christ’.
