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Two-Minute Teaching January 18, 2015 The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Every January, the Church celebrates the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It begins on January 18 th , the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and closes on January 25 th , the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. In the southern hemisphere, where January is vacation time, this week is celebrated at another time in the year, often around Pentecost. The week has its foundation in Scripture. In the Gospel of John, before his suffering and death, Jesus prays, “May they all be one so that world may believe.” This Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was first celebrated by a group of Franciscan friars in New York in 1908. Every year, a different country chooses the theme for this week. This year, the theme for Christian Unity Week was chosen by Brazil and is also taken from the Gospel of John. In the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus says to the woman, “Give me a drink.” To drink water from someone else’s well is to experience another person’s life and way of believing. It is an invitation for us to try water from a different well and to offer a little of our own to others. The week is an opportunity to recognize the richness of our diversity as Christians and to pray for greater efforts toward unity. Español: Cada enero, la Iglesia celebra La Semana de Oración por la Unidad Cristiana. Comienza el dieciocho de enero, con la festividad de La Silla de San Pedro, y termina el veinticinco de enero, con la festividad de la Conversión de San Pablo. En el hemisferio sur, donde enero es una época de vacaciones, esta semana se celebra en otro tiempo del año, frecuentemente alrededor de Pentecostés.
