2018 Church Unity

Cluny Sisters’

‘Cor Unum et Anima Una!’

  

Week of

Prayer

for

Christian

Unity  

January 18 - January 25

  

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has a history of 100 years in which Christians around the world have taken part in an octave of prayer for visible Christian unity.  By annually observing the ‘Unity Octave’, Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper:

"that they all may be one."

(John 17:21)

  

The focus this year is on the Christians of the Caribbean and the journey of many people for freedom from enslavement.  As Cluny Sisters, we are one in heart and mind in support of our sisters and the peoples they serve around the world and, during this Unity Octave, with the Clunys in the Caribbean.

The theme for the 2018 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, “Your Right Hand, O Lord, Glorious in Power,” is taken from the book of Exodus 15:6 and the ‘Song of Miriam’. The resources for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity have been prepared by the churches of the Caribbean.  The contemporary Caribbean is deeply marked by the dehumanizing project of colonial exploitation.

As we pray for unity and freedom from exploitation we unite with our Cluny Sisters in Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica Haiti and Cuba.

Together We Call Upon the Holy Spirit

With the Christians of the Caribbean, let us call upon the Holy Spirit to set our hearts on fire as we pray for the unity of the Church.  Unite your servants in the bond of unity.

Teach us to pray.                         Come, Holy Spirit!

Liberate us from the slavery of sin.Come, Holy Spirit!

Help us in our weakness.              Come, Holy Spirit!

Restore us as your children.          Come, Holy Spirit!

Together We Ask for Reconciliation

We have not received a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Let us call upon the mercy of God, confident in the saving power of God’s Right Hand, we pray:

From structures that undermine human dignity and enforce new forms of enslavement, deliver us, O God. 

                                                  Lord, Have Mercy!

From decisions and deeds that impose poverty and discrimination on our brothers and sisters, deliver us, O God.
                                                  Lord, Have Mercy!

From the fear and suspicion that separate us from each other and place limits on hope and healing, deliver us, O God.
                                                  Lord, Have Mercy!

The Lord is our strength and our might, and has become our salvation. May God, who has redeemed us, lead into the abode of holiness.  Amen.

United in the charism of our Foundress, Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey, a spirit of freedom and liberation, we are sent to Evangelize and share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Together We Go Forth

Redeemed by God’s Right Hand and united in the One Body of Christ, we pray:

  The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,,

  because the Lord has anointed us
  to bring good news to the poor.
  to proclaim release to the captives
  and recovery of sight to the blind,
  to let the oppressed go free,
  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
                                                       Amen! Alleluia!

For more about the 2018 Week of Church Unity go to:

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/events/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity.cfm

Interested in the Cluny Sisters in the Caribbean go to:

West Indies - http://sj-cluny.org/West-Indies?lang=fr

Haiti - http://sj-cluny.org/Haiti-354?lang=fr

Cuba - http://sj-cluny.org/Peru-Cuba-437?lang=fr