23 Mar 2020
“When Christians pray together, the goal of
unity seems closer...In the fellowship of prayer Christ is truly
present; he prays "in us", "with us" and "for us" (Ut unum sint 22)”.
This is the sense of the initiative proposed by Pope Francis, at the
end of the Angelus of Sunday 22 March, so that all the followers of
Christ might respond together to the global threat of the pandemic.
The Holy Father invited all Heads of Churches and leaders of
Christian communities, together with all Christians, to simultaneously
say the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father, this coming Wednesday, 25 March.
The prayer can be said ideally at noon Rome time, or noon local time, or at any other convenient time of the day.Here are the words of the Holy Father:
“In these trying days, while humanity trembles due to the threat
of the pandemic, I would like to propose to all Christians that together
we lift our voices towards Heaven. I invite all the Heads of the
Churches and the leaders of every Christian community, together with all
Christian of the various confessions, to invoke the Almighty, the
omnipotent God, to recite at the same time the prayer that Jesus, our
Lord, taught us. I, therefore, invite everyone to do this several times a
day, but all together, to recite the Our Father this coming Wednesday,
25 March, at noon, all together. On that day on which many Christians
recall the annunciation to the Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of the
Word, may the Lord listen to the united prayer of all of His disciples
who are preparing themselves to celebrate the victory of the Risen
Christ.”
