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On November 12, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St Josaphat, an Eastern Catholic Bishop (1580 - 1623) who in life - and in death - poured himself out in imitation of Jesus Christ so that the Church would once again be one. I must lay all my cards on the table. I long for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I pray daily for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I do so because I believe it is the will of God that "All May be One" (John 17: 21).
I believe that the healing of the division between the two sister churches will unleash a profound renewal of the entire Church - at the dawn of what I believe is a new missionary age. I also believe that the gifts found in the whole Church will enrich both East and West, assisting us in the mission which we must face together in our One Lord. All Nations need the witness of the Church in this age which has lost its moral compass. In the ancient words of an anonymous Christian to a pagan inquirer to the faith named Diognetus, "the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body." That the Nations of the this age have lost their soul is obvious. The only real question to be asked is whether Christians will rise to the invitation to resuscitate it with the unified witness of the "new world" of the Church. Patriarch Kirill sees the Orthodox and Catholic Churches as sister churches. That is a welcome sign of the work of the Holy Spirit. Pope Benedict XVI also sees us as sister churches. That is because we are sister churches - and it is time for an expression of that reality.
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An International Missionary Outreach Dedicated to Evangelizing the Lost By Sharing The Gospel According to the Scriptures
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