Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Every year, for eight days, the Churches pray together for Christian Unity. From 18 to 25 January, we are invited to participate in this Week of Ecumenical Prayer!

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What is this all about?

Every year, for eight days each year, the churches pray together for Christian Unity. In the northern hemisphere, they do so from January 18 to 25. 

From all the churches and Christian communities, still wounded by divisions, separations, or by their mutual indifference, a great prayer comes up with the same heart: 

Lord, give peace and unity to your Church! 

This year, the biblical text proposed for common meditation is the shipwreck of Paul in Malta, told in chapters 27 and 28 of the Acts of the Apostles. The theme of this year's Week (proposed by the Maltese) was taken from the verse in which the reception of the shipwrecked is narrated: "They treated us with kindness". 

From January 18 to 25, we are therefore invited to participate in this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Participate in this common prayer!

How can I participate in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity?

Click on "I join" (blue button on the top right). By registering, you will be guided by email each day of this Week. Receive a free email each day of this Week with a small text from Sister Maria Giampiccolo (Congregation of the “Daughters of the Church”), to take a small step each day towards this horizon of peace and unity, of true and Christian fraternity.

Each day we offer an act of love and say the proposed prayer. 

In our common prayer, we will in particular ask the Lord of Life and History, to give us a heart open to justice and availability to come to meet today's shipwrecked people, the poor, migrants, men and women of every colour, ethnicity or social class, who ask for help and welcome.

The "Daughters of the Church": Who are we?

The "Daughters of the Church" have the special mission of promoting unity in the Church. The name expresses our charism:

To know, love and bear witness to the Church, to make her known and loved, to pray, work and suffer for her, in imitation of Jesus, who «loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her».

To know the Church: the Holy Church is not known, is not loved because the One who gave birth to her in sorrow is not known and loved…

To love the Church as Christ her Saviour loved her and gave himself for her.

To witness to the Church, which is a mystery of the Trinitarian communion, to live the “unum sint” in the spirit of the priestly prayer of Christ (Jn 17), from which our Institute has drawn its own inspiration and life.

To make the Church known and loved, in the neighbourhood, in the Parish, in the local Church, wherever we are, by fostering the building up of an ecclesial conscience.

To pray for the Church: prayer with the Church and for the Church opens us to universality.

To work for the Church: to participate in its mission of communicating to brothers and sisters the riches of its mystery, according to the mottos given by the Foundress: «From Eucharistic Body to the Mystical Body»; «Contemplatives and therefore apostles».

To suffer for the Church, to the point of sacrificing health and life, if God asks it, in imitation of Jesus who «loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her».

Find more information on our website: 

https://www.figliedellachiesa.org/en/who-we-are/significant-figures/maddalena-volpato.html

Notre adresse postale:
Casa Generalizia
Sancta Maria Mater Ecclesiae
Viale Vaticano, 62 - 00165 Roma

Prayer from the novena

Prayer for Unity

O God of forgiveness, Father of mercy, free us from the painful memories of the past, ...that bruise our common Christian identity. Guide us towards reconciliation so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can defeat hate with love, anger with kindness, and mistrust with confidence. Make that, enlightened by your Word, we may walk on your path. May our churches be able to hope and desire the unity for which your Son prayed on the eve of his Passion. Teach us to trust you. Make us true disciples of your Son. Give us the strength to build compassionate relationships, of solidarity and harmony. In our sincere search for your truth, purify our judgments about others. Give us a spirit of generosity towards all as we journey together towards Christian unity. We ask this in the name of your Son who reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit. Amen