HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL DOCUMENT

Draft Synodical Document

Δευτέρα 23 Μαρτίου 2020

PRAYING TOGETHER FOR THE END OF THE PANDEMIC





“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.”