Exhortation for Christian-Unity Week

Excerpts from Pope John Paul II's address at yesterday's general audience:

This year, the theme presents a fundamental truth to us for all ecumenical commitment, namely, that Christ is the foundation of the Church. The Council strongly recommended prayer for unity as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement (see "Unitatis Redintegratio," No. 8). Given that the reconciliation of Christians surpasses "human powers and capacities" (ibid., 24), prayer gives expression to hope that does not disappoint, to trust in the Lord who makes all things new (see Romans 5:5; Revelation 21:5). But prayer must be accompanied by purification of the mind, the feelings and the memory. Thus it becomes an expression of that "inner conversion," without which there is no true ecumenism (see ibid., 7). In a word, unity is a gift of God, a gift to be tirelessly implored with humility and truth.
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I will unite myself spiritually, and I also ask you to pray so that the whole family of believers may attain as soon as possible the full communion desired by Christ.