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The following link is offered for those that would like to follow the scritpural themes for the Week of Christian Unity.

Christian Unity Scripture Themes [cwnews.com]

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

Dear Father Anthony,

Thanks for sharing this. It was positively inspiring and after reading these it would take a hard heart to NOT take note of our Lord's wishes.

In Christ,
Alice

Thanks for this article. I also saw this one on another website regarding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
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From Catholic News Agency

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=5757

Vatican announces final plans for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity


Vatican City, Jan. 17, 2006 (CNA) - Tomorrow, the worldwide Church will begin a weeklong celebration calling for prayer and increased awareness of the need for Christian unity around the world.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, organized jointly by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches, begins tomorrow and will be celebrated through January 25th.

This year�s theme, inspired by the Gospel of Matthew, will be; "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

Organizers of the event have chosen an ecumenical group from Dublin, Ireland to prepare the texts which will be used for prayer and reflection.

According to the World Council of Churches, the Ireland group was chosen, in part, because of the ongoing struggle between Catholics and Protestants which has wracked the northern part of that country with violence for decades.

Only now, they pointed out, is the process of peace and shared identity in Christ, slowly starting to take root.

The Vatican also announced today the particular themes which will be explored on particular days throughout the week including, �United through the presence of Christ, �One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;�� �Building Christian unity with Jesus in our midst - daily ecumenism, �You also ought to wash one another's feet;�� and �Praying together in Jesus' name, �The Lord waits to be gracious to you.��

Themes for the latter half of the celebration will include, �From the past to the future - forgiveness and healing of memories Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven,�� taken from the Jesus words in the Gospel of Matthew; �God's presence among us: a call to peace. �The Lord is with us;�� �Mission in Jesus' name. �So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost;�� and �Recognizing and welcoming God's presence in the other in Jesus' name,
�Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.��

On January 25th, the last day of the celebration, faithful will be asked to meditate on the theme: �One in hope, "On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you," taken from John 14:20.

Each of the days takes their theme from Scripture.

On Wednesday, January 25th, the last day of the Week of prayer and Feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Paul, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Vespers and mark the close of the 2006 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Although, the Vatican noted, January is the traditional period for celebrating the week of prayer, in the southern hemisphere, Churches will sometimes seek other periods such as the time of Pentecost, which, they said, is a symbolically significant date for the unity of the Church, and was suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926

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Bless, Fr. Anthony and Alice,

Porter...

Pope Benedict's "opening" remarks on this "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" as reported by the Vatican Information Service:

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COMMUNION IN CHRIST SUSTAINS THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT

VATICAN CITY, JAN 18, 2006 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis during today's general audience to the subject of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins today. The audience, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, was attended by 8,000 people.

The Week of Prayer, the Pope began, represents "an important opportunity to reflect upon the drama of division within the Christian community and to ask, together with Jesus Himself, that 'all might be one, ... that the world may believe'."

"Prayer for the 'union of all' involves - in different forms, times and ways - Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants, united by faith in Jesus Christ, the one Lord and Savior," said the Pope. Such prayer, he added, "is part of the central nucleus that Vatican Council II called 'the soul of the whole ecumenical movement'."

"The elements that, despite the permanent division, still unite Christians, sustain the possibility of raising a common prayer to God. This communion in Christ upholds the entire ecumenical movement and indicates the goal of the search for unity among all Christians in the Church of Christ. This distinguishes the ecumenical movement from all other initiatives of dialogue and contact with other religions and ideologies."

The Holy Father recalled how prayers raised throughout the world during this period, and during Pentecost, are also an expression of "the shared commitment to re-establish the full communion of all Christians."

However, these prayers must not simply be a petition. "We can also give thanks to the Lord for the new situation painstakingly created through ecumenical relations among Christians in their newfound brotherhood, for the strong links of solidarity that have been forged, for the growth of communion, and for the convergence, ... between various forms of dialogue. The future stands before us."

Benedict XVI concluded by recalling the words of John Paul II - "who did and suffered so much for the ecumenical question" - in his Encyclical "Ut unum sint:" "An appreciation of how much God has already given is the condition which disposes us to receive those gifts still indispensable for bringing to completion the ecumenical work of unity."

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Amado