Week Of Prayer For Christian Unity 2024 in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM - From Saturday, January 2nd till Sunday, January 28th, 2024, the Churches of Jerusalem welcomed faithful and religious people from other traditions for a time of prayer together. This week is always an opportunity to seek out what brings Christians together, while appreciating their diversity, and their historical and cultural specificities, which are deeply rooted in the Holy Land, where, unlike any other place in the world, almost all the Churches are present.

"You shall love the Lord, your God, ..., and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27) was the theme for 2024, prepared by members of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, the Protestant Churches and the Chemin Neuf Community of Burkina Faso, a Sahelian country also in the grip of a very serious security crisis, where Christians, representing less than 30% of the population, are regularly the target of attacks and kidnappings.

In Jerusalem, in union with all the Churches of the world, a prayer for Peace was above all raised, so that each person may see his neighbor as a brother to love and find a loving brother in his neighbor. There was also unanimous thanksgiving and tribute for the testimonies of faith, hope, and charity that Christians continue to give in the face of adversity, particularly in Gaza.

As one of the homilies heard during the week recalled, "All the many holy martyrs of Jerusalem, the first Church in the world, surround us. They pray with us and for us" (St James Armenian Cathedral).

Every day, ceremonies followed one another in the main Christian places of worship across the Old City, focusing on the Gospel of the Good Samaritan and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, each in their language.

The faces, that had become familiar by the end of the week, were filled with contemplation and transcended by the beauty of the liturgies, as everyone seemed to seek comfort and support in these fraternal gatherings.

The hosting Churches more than lived up to this expectation, enabling everyone to enter into prayer and to "marvel at the miracle represented by the Lord's call, which brings together in his love people from all walks of life, all nationalities, with their differences and even their disagreements", as Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel remarked in his homily at the Cenacle on January 25, 2024…

This news was originally published on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text and check all the photos.