Office for Christian Unity
Thursday 21 March 2024
Meditation
The World for Christ
We will be listening to texts by Catherine and William Booth (founders of the Salvation Army) during Lent 2024.
[…] Are we really what we seem? What is the purpose of a religious organisation? To share the name of God? That is an admirable aim. But I imagine that God does not need us to perpetuate his name and glory. Is it to praise and worship God? Well, that’s good. But that’s not all. The main purpose must be to carry on to completion Christ’s work of saving the world and delivering it from infernal powers.
We have to do something more definite, more concrete, bolder, more absolutely divine than anything that has been done before. To be more practical, we need a more compassionate, more loving heart. We need a religion palpitating with human sympathy. The coldness and hardness of many so-called Christians’ hearts has been a greater obstacle than anything before. If we are to conquer the world for God, we must put into our religion something more tender, more human, more Christ-like. We need more heart.
William Booth (quoted by Corinne Gossauer-Peroz in ‘Prier 15 jours avec William et Catherine BOOTH, fondateurs de l’Armée du Salut’, Ed. Nouvelle Cité, 2008, pp. 101-102).
Intercessions
Prepared by the brothers and sisters of Uganda
To be adapted according to your location
We pray for interfaith couples. Let us lift up the young Ugandans who are preparing for marriage and who belong to different Christian denominations. This journey of preparation is becoming increasingly long and is leading Church leaders to promote knowledge, dialogue and unity between Churches.
Lord, give hope, courage and patience to those young people who choose unity and live it out on a daily basis in their preparation for marriage and in their lives as couples and families. Grant also that Christian leaders may move forwards in ecumenism.
We pray for non-Catholic Christians taking part in the Cana and youth missions in Uganda.
Lord, we thank you for the missions of the Chemin Neuf Community in Uganda: Cana, the youth mission and chaplaincies. Thank you for the brothers and sisters of different Christian denominations who are involved in these missions, who find in them a place to walk with Christ and grow in brotherhood. We pray that our Community will be faithful to its ecumenical calling and remain a place of welcome and resource for Christians of different denominations.
We pray for Christians involved in politics and government. A number of Christians are involved in Ugandan politics, at both national and local levels, in various villages and towns.
We pray that you will protect these brothers and sisters from corruption and the desire to enrich themselves. Would the Holy Spirit keep them united in the service of justice, truth, and the defence and development of the poorest.