A Door that opens on the path of ecumenism

Eleuterio F. Fortino

“Among the most ardent supplications of this exceptional hour… the Church implores to the Lord that unity among all Christians of different Confessions may increase until full communion is reached”. This direction given by Pope John Paul II was welcomed by the Calendar of the Great Jubilee in Rome. The Calendar envisages “ecumenical celebrations in the basilicas and in other churches presided over by representatives of Christian confessions.

The Holy Door

To underline the will to give the celebrations its own ecumenical dimension, the opening of the Holy Door of Saint Paul outside the walls will take place on 18 January in parallel with the beginning of the Week of prayer for Christian unity, instead of 25 December. Representatives of the world’s Christian communities have been invited and will take part in this celebration. It will be an ecumenical celebration of the vespers. The rite of the opening of the Holy Door as the beginning of the Jubilee has a specifically Christological and salvific character. The Pope comments on this in the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee (n. 8). After repeating Jesus’ saying “I am the door” (Jn 10:7), Pope John Paul II explains the significance applied to the Jubilee. Jesus makes that statement to indicate that no one can have access to the Father if not through him. This designation that Jesus makes of himself attests that he alone is the Saviour sent by the Father. There is only one access that opens the entry of life in communion with God: this access is Jesus Christ, the only and absolute way to salvation. Only to him can the word of the Psalmist be applied with full truth. This is the door of the Lord, through it will pass the righteous (Ps 118 (117): 20). The celebration envisages that the rite be held with representatives of other Churches. Together, through the faith in Jesus Christ, the threshold of salvation is crossed. Therefore that rite takes on the form of a profession of faith in Jesus Christ Ecumenical Lord of the Churches and also in the introduction of the decree of the Second Vatican Council on ecumenism. At the dawn of the new millennium Christians together proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ. For the Jubilee that commemorates the Incarnationis Mysterium it is e moment of expression. Inherent in the celebration is also the prayer for total unity, to overcome the differences that still exist in light of the teaching of Jesus Christ. The celebration is opened carrying the Gospel in process.

The Week for unity

In Rome it was celebrated in various ways and with different intensity: in the parishes, in movements, in associations and in promotion groups. The Ecumenical Diocesan Commission along with representatives of other Christian Communities in Rome are organising an inter-confessional prayer meeting, first in a Catholic church and the following year in a Church of another community. This is a fruitful and spiritually dense initiative, often with those interior tensions that cause the ascertainment of division. For the week of prayer of January 2000, a more expressive and participation character was desired. Representatives of the other churches will day by day preside over the prayer for unity in different churches in Rome, Catholic and non-Catholic, so that there will be a daily meeting of ecumenical prayer. Obviously, the booklet prepared for the prayer for unity in 2000: “Blessed be God… who blessed us in Christ”, will be adopted as inspiration for these prayers. The preparation of this booklet had an interesting ecumenical development. The proposal of this theme for the prayer and the first project come from an ecumenical group made up of representatives of the four “families” (Orthodox, Catholic, ancient Oriental churches and Protestant) which form the Council of the “Churches of the Middle East”. It appeared opportune to request this initiative from the Christians who live in the region where Jesus Christ was born and where he carried out his ministry and from where Christianity began to spread to the whole world. Later the project was re-elaborated, for international distribution, by the Mixed International Commission made up of representatives of the Catholic Church and the Ecumenical Council of Churches. The text therefore stemmed from close ecumenical collaboration at various levels and is aimed at facilitating prayer and common events among Christians in various parts of the world. The hymn of the Letter to the Ephesians, a hymn of thanksgiving for the salvation received in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3-14) was used as the basic text. This hymn, during the eight days, will be explained day-by-day and ecumenical motivations will be drawn from it. The eight days, above all, highlight the “blessings” received in Christ by the believers. Everything depends on the salvific economy of God and by the extraordinary event of the incarnation of the Verb of God who placed his “tent” among men as the only mediator between God and man. The Lord of Israel visited his people (first day). From here comes the vocation of the people of God to holiness, to become in His image and likeness, to be His adoptive sons (second day). As adoptive sons the plan of divine will is revealed, which is that of summarising everything in Christ, of gathering in Christ the whole of humanity towards faith and conversion and through the forgiveness of sins which comes from the Cross (fourth and fifth day). From here blossoms hope, that hope that does not disappoint because is based on the Spirit of God placed in the heart of believers. And the hope is that the life of Christians, in keeping with the Gospel, may be living cult of God, his glory and laud (sixth – eight day).

Ecumenical implications