[1] [Show as slideshow]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6] Photo Gallery click here

[7] Yesterday, Wednesday 23rd January, the Legion of Mary organised a Christian Unity Service at Xagħra Parish Church. The ecumenical prayer is held every year on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This year’s theme, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5,17), marked the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the United States. (see logo below)

The Week of Prayer offers opportunities to meet and pray with fellow Christians of different denominations in our diocese. Canon John Mendel, Chancellor St Paul’s Pro Cathedral, Valletta; Fr Jeff Williams, Chaplain Holy Trinity Church Sliema; Mgr Mario Grech, Bishop of Gozo; Rev David Morris of the Union of the Scots Church and Methodist Congregation and Chairman of the Malta Ecumenical Council; and Mgr Carmel Refalo, Archpriest of Xagħra took part.

In order to unite with one another, we must love one another;
in order to love one another, we must know one another;
in order to know one another, we must go and meet one another.

[8] These words, known as the “Testament of Cardinal Mercier,” are the impetus for the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week (actually an octave, eight days) has been celebrated continuously since 1894. However, the Week was a dream of many Christian leaders since the early years of the 19th century. In 1908, the Rev. Paul Wattson, founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, suggested that the period between January 18 and 25 be an octave of prayer for Christian unity. In this proposal, he was giving form to Pope Leo XIII’s 1894 call for an octave of prayer, and to earlier suggestions from the Lambeth Conference and various other leaders. Wattson and the Friars observed the octave at Graymoor beginning in 1908, and championed the octave throughout the United States.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is now celebrated around the world in January. The theme and focus biblical texts are prepared by an international Joint Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.