That they all may be one

Today is also the beginning of the 102nd annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

John 17:21

Over here at Pious Sodality of Church Ladies they have the prayer intentions for each of the 8 days.

Pentecost, the "birthday" of the Church.

Let us pray that all Christians will soon come under the banner of One Church. Indeed, Christian disunity has often been described as wounds to the body of Christ; the Church, after all, is the Mystical Body of Christ, with Christ as our Head. Disunity, then, is akin to dismembering ourselves from the Body; dismembering Christ. How He longs for us all to be one!

And so I say again: Let us pray that all Christians will soon come under the banner of the One Church, and so cease hurting Christ (and ourselves, too) in this way. Just think of how many souls could be rescued from despair or darkness or sin if we all stood as one! What great and beautiful things could be accomplished. We can do so much more with a complete body.
We cannot dance if our legs are missing. We cannot sow seeds or gather the harvest or embrace another if our arms are gone.

That they all may be one.

Amen.