Ecumenical Commission

The current year in the preparation of the Great Jubilee is dedicated to reflection on Jesus Christ. The Holy Father writes in the apostolic letter, Tertio Millennium Adveniente: " To know the true identity of Christ, Christians need, above all in the course of this year, to return with renewed interest to the Bible, whether through sacred liturgy rich with divine words, or by means of pious reading, or through the means of initiatives suitable for such a purpose and of other teaching aids" (TMA, 40).

A suitable initiative has been taken from the Biblical Society in Italy. This well-deserving organization for the diffusion of Sacred Scripture regularly prepares an agenda every year for the evangelical communities for the reading of the Bible, in the family or in groups for listening to the word of God. This year it took a new initiative for the use of the booklet. In contact with Orthodox and Catholics, it elaborated an agenda which comprehends, in addition to the lectionary of the evangelical communities, also the daily lectionary of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. It also kept contact with the Ecumenical Commission of the Jubilee of the Year 2000. The agenda therefore includes:

A) For the Catholic Church, the instruction on daily readings taken from the lectionary as published in the "Calendario Liturgico 1997," of the LDC editions is brought back;

B) For the Orthodox Church, the instruction is taken from the lectionary as published in the "Mikron Typikon 1997," Panagopoulos, Atene;

C) For the various evangelical communities the instructions are taken from the "Lezionario dei Fratelli Moravi," as published under the auspices of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, "Editrice Claudiana," 1996.

This agenda is able to facilitate a daily personal reading, or in a family group, or more widely in church groups, particularly in ecumenical groups. It deals with a proposal which is coherently inserted into the answer to Pope John Paul II's call for a common return to the Sacred Scriptures toward the purpose of being able to know the true identity of Jesus Christ, the only Lord and Savior.

The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity has passed on the agenda to all the ecumenical commissions of the episcopal conferences throughout the world and to the synod conferences of the Eastern Catholic churches to draw attention to the common reading of Sacred Scripture particularly in the course of preparation for the Great Jubilee.

( E.F.F.)