This week’s service has been prepared by the brothers and sisters of the Community in Montagnieu (France).
Reflection text
Father, That they may be one
Excerpt from the preface to the latest book by the Dombes Group, Father, That they may be one. From division to unity, Cerf, 2026.
Are you one of those who wonder what is the point of praying for the unity of the Christian churches, when so many other concerns weigh heavily on us in these times of global transformation, with their share of anxieties and new divisions? In the increasingly deteriorating political context of the last three years, with extremely serious situations involving innocent deaths, doesn’t this prayer seem like escapism?
Do you doubt whether churches can find enough courage to recognize each other and develop forms of communion? Or do you even think that unity risks becomng uniformity and that it would be enough to maintain simple bonds of solidarity and communication?
Our appeal stems from an acute awareness of the need to maintain intercession specifically together: for unity in such a divided world, a unity that for several decades has been affirmed as a “communion respectful of internal diversity”. Unity “in reconciled diversity,” therefore to be lived in common, with polyphonic voices, resisting through faith, hope, and love the temptations of division and inhumanity, by proposing an alternative horizon to that of walls and borders: bringing together praying individuals and communities from around the world in an “invisible monastery,” according to the image used by one of the pioneers of the Dombes Group, Father Paul Couturier.
Deliberately brief and concise, our plea follows on from the lengthy study that precedes it: ‘For all the nations… For the catholicity of the Churches, a call to make room for common life in Christ who is “all in all.”
The central thesis of this work, which states: “It is possible to affirm that the Catholic Church and the Churches of the Reformation form one single Church, albeit in imperfect communion (5533)”, encourages us to call for prayer to deepen and express this communion between our still-separated Churches in faithful commitment, on a journey of constantly renewed conversion to the heart of the faith, and to do this in the midst of the world’s divisions. This is where our priority and emphasis lie: the unity of the Churches is at the service of the unity of the world..
Intercessions
To be adapted or modified according to the place and circumstance
Lord, we give you thanks for the work of the Dombes Group, whose members, theologians from different churches, have been meeting every year for nearly 90 years to reflect and pray together. We bless you for their latest book, a plea for prayer for Christian unity, which urges us to allow ourselves to be renewed and challenged in our calling.
We entrust the work of this group to you and ask you for the grace of acceptance in all our churches and local communities for a profound conversion and a true renewal of our commitment today.
Each year the Siloé Centre in Montagnieu (France, Isère) continues to welcome for varying lengths of time people seeking restoration and inner unity. The Siloé Session is also welcoming around thirty retreatants this year.
Lord, we entrust all these people to you on their journey through life, and we entrust the Siloé mission to you in all our countries.
On December 13 and 14, the Siloé Centre in Montagnieu hosted the Unbound weekend retreat with brothers and sisters from the Community and Communion of Chemin Neuf. Lord, we bless you for your work in our lives and for the truth of your love that sets us free.
Lord, may the fruit of freedom in each person’s life shine ever more brightly in our lives as we follow you together as missionary disciples, continuing to proclaim together the good news of your Kingdom.
As it does every year, the NGO Open Doors published its report in January on Christians persecuted around the world. Today, 388 million Christians are exposed to severe persecution and discrimination because of their faith, representing one in seven Christians worldwide.
Lord, we pray for all those who risk their lives every day in your name, for greater freedom, justice, and peace. We pray especially for the Catholic Church in Mexico, where several priests have recently been murdered.
Prayer for Christian unity
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
(Prayer written by members of the Chemin Neuf Community
inspired by a prayer of Father Paul Couturier)
This week’s service has been prepared by the brothers and sisters of the Community in Nantes.
Reflection text
Christ, the sole foundation of the Church. The exclusivity and inclusivity of Christ.
Excerpt from Gérard Siegwalt’s text published in Revue Irénikon 78 (2005) 1-2, pp. 7-8.
[…] The theme: ‘Christ, the sole foundation of the Church’ affirms, along with the uniqueness of Christ, the unity of the Church: one Christ, one Church of this one Christ!
Let us consider Ephesians 4:3ff: “Strive to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit… there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.‘
Let us also think of the Nicene Creed: ’I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Since the early days of Christianity, the affirmation of faith concerning the unity of the Church has been combined with a plurality of Churches: the New Testament uses both the singular ‘Church’ and the plural ‘Churches’.
The one Church of Christ is diversified into particular churches, according to the particular places where it is established. These places are not only geographical (Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Rome, etc.) but also theological: there are the so-called Petrine Churches (or Palestinian Churches, with Jerusalem at their origin), the Pauline Churches (and here there are the early Pauline Churches and the later Pauline Churches of the pastoral epistles), and the Johannine Churches. We know that the coexistence of these different Christian branches was not without tension and even conflict: consider the dispute between Paul on one side and Peter and James on the other. […].
The one Church of Christ has never been a uniform Church; it has always been a plural Church. This is also the affirmation of 1 Corinthians 12, which applies first and foremost to a given ecclesial community: ‘there are different kinds of gifts (charisms), but the same Spirit’; this affirmation can also be applied to the diversity of Churches. In other words: there is no living unity, according to truth and love, without diversity; there is no living diversity, according to truth and love, without unity.
Intercessions
To be adapted or modified according to the place and circumstance
Lord, we give you thanks for the student residence in Nantes entrusted to the Chemin Neuf Community, with young people from different cultures, denominations and religions. With them, we also entrust to you all the young people welcomed into our homes throughout the world. The richness of this diversity opens us up to the greatness and love you have for each one of us.
Come, Holy Spirit, continue to reveal yourself in our life together and give us the grace of unity in all our diversity.
God of peace and communion, we entrust to You the Churches of the East and the Middle East, brought to birth at the very sources of the Gospel and tested by the wounds of time.
We bring before You the religious, the families, and all Christians whose faith may be weakened by fear, exile, violence, and oblivion.
Come, Holy Spirit, give these communities the patience to endure the night; and the hope that does not disappoint. May they be a humble and luminous sign of perseverance, reconciliation and peace for the world.
God of love, we give you thanks for the Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches throughout the world. We entrust to you the pastors, bishops and all those in leadership positions in these Churches.
Come, Holy Spirit, protect and nourish their faithfulness to your Word. Grant these Churches the grace of unity so that the passion to proclaim your Kingdom may spread widely throughout the world.
Prayer for Christian unity
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
(Prayer written by members of the Chemin Neuf Community
inspired by a prayer of Father Paul Couturier)
This week’s service has been prepared by the brothers and sisters of the Community in Poland.
Reflection text
Spiritual Ecumenism
Conversation between Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś and the young people from the Student Chaplaincy “With the Brother” in Krakow, January 19, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXXqxxvLMoI&t=248s
Pope Francis (this is the most important answer) defined ecumenism as an exchange of spiritual gifts. This is in Evangelii Gaudium. An exchange of spiritual gifts, meaning that ecumenism is not about knowing, for example, what Lutherans believe. This is a matter that we study. It is not a question of knowing their opinions. But wanting to draw on the spiritual gifts that are present in this Church and in the people who make up this Church. This means that I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is at work in this Church.
I am curious to know what the Holy Spirit is accomplishing in this Church, because it can also edify me. Ecumenism is an exchange of spiritual gifts; it is not just about mutually understanding each other. This does not contradict the fact that, as a Catholic, I am convinced that the fullness of the Church is found in the Catholic Church. This does not mean that outside the Catholic Church there is an ecclesial void, as John Paul II said. The Church is where the Holy Spirit acts. At Mass we professed our faith and said that we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
This means: I believe in one Church. The Church is one. Christians are divided among themselves, but the Church is one. The Holy Spirit makes us one Church, in whom we are baptized into one body. It is high time to change our perspective and become aware of what unites us, rather than starting with what divides us.
Intercessions
To be adapted or modified according to the place and circumstance
At the last European Taizé meeting in Paris, from December 28, 2025, to January 1, 2026. The next gathering was announced that it will take place in Łódź1, Poland.
Lord, we pray for all those who participated in this event in Paris. You have sown seeds in the hearts of young people; we pray that you protect these seeds in their daily lives so that they may bear fruit for your Kingdom. We also entrust to you the city and the Church of Łódź so that this gathering in 2026 may be a light in the lives of the local churches and in the life of the city.
[1]Pronounced « /wut͡ɕ/ » or « Woodj »
Ecumenism in Łódź predates the decision of the Second Vatican Council, says Cardinal Ryś, former archbishop of Łódź.
With its multicultural history, Łódź is an ecumenical city where Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Catholics, and Jews have learned to live together. For several years now, the Days of Prayer for Christian Unity have been celebrated for two to three weeks in January, as an extension of the official dates of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Lord, we entrust to you this year’s ecumenical meetings in the city of Łódź and throughout the world. Give every believer an open heart to all brothers and sisters who call upon your name and confess that you are Lord and Savior.
On December 31st, before the Te Deum at the end of the year, to praise God and give thanks, Leo XIV insisted on returning to the profound meaning of the Holy Year experienced in the Catholic Church. In addition, he already encouraged Christians to look foward to another jubilee for Christians: the Holy Year of Redemption in 2033, with the prospect of a return to Jerusalem and the hope that this event would lead to full unity.
Lord, convert our hard hearts, which lack faith, hope, and charity! Teach us to love our brothers and sisters from other churches more, to take a greater interest in other churches, while remaining rooted in our own.
Prayer for Christian unity
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
(Prayer written by members of the Chemin Neuf Community
inspired by a prayer of Father Paul Couturier)