The One in whom all are united ” “” “

“Have a Good Lent!” That’s the greeting addressed to us a few days ago by three young Orthodox priests who paid a brief visit to our convent to pay their respects during a tour they made of our island as tourists. This greeting made to us by our brothers in the faith (whom we are always glad to see) was not belated: for while the Catholic Church throughout the world is preparing to celebrate the Feast of Feasts, the Pasch of the Lord, we here in Greece follow the Orthodox calendar and have just begun Lent in recent days. We will not sing the Easter Hallelujah until 5 May. For those of us who breathe according to the rhythm of the Liturgy, who synchronize our existence with the wavelength of the celebration of the mystery of Christ, who have a heart that beats with the heart of the Church, this difference of dates for the celebration of Easter is the cause of no little suffering. The division of Christians thus touches us in our flesh and urges us to enlarge our hearts and minds, and create within us the space for a living communion that may welcome all the baptized in Christ and unite us all, Catholics and Orthodox, to proclaim together the ‘kerigma’ of the Resurrection, source of life and hope for each man of our time. Our presence as Poor Clares in this wonderful island of Syros is wholly motivated in the title of our convent: “Ut unum sint” – “That they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). After a year and a half of living in this ecclesial situation, so different from that in Italy from which we come, we can cry out to the world that unity is the gift of the Lord, because he is the One in whom all are united. We feel profoundly true the affirmation of the Pope who says it is our responsibility to strive towards the ecumenism of holiness, the one way that will lead to full communion. The great gift that the Lord has made to us by calling us to Syros is the incessant appeal to grow in his love, to nourish ourselves from him, from his Word that models his image in us, and to make space for him in our daily life. Humanly speaking, the task of taking forward the ecumenical enterprise seems difficult and that’s why it’s essential we unite ourselves in prayer and in common worship to God the Father and believe with all our heart that it is He who guides the events of history. Last year, when Greece was preparing to receive the historic visit of the Pope, we were asked what we thought of the many Orthodox priests who were praying fervently to the Lord to prevent this visit. We replied that the prayer that is made to Him with a pure heart, for love of the Lord, is always heard, but not always answered according to our requests. Prayer does not modify the design of the Lord who loves us and desires our true well-being. Prayer is the cry that we address to him so that he may open our hearts to an understanding of his love, and give us a new heart that may make us ready to accept his grace and enable him to accomplish his salvific designs in us, also through extraordinary events. Of these extraordinary events that have occurred in Greece in recent times, the land whose name is repeated wherever the Gospel is preached, we are witnesses: we saw the Pope arrive in Athens; we enjoyed the communion between Catholics and Orthodox in our diocese on the occasion of the enthronement of the new Orthodox Metropolitan in Syros and were immediately honoured by a visit he paid to our convent; we met Orhodox bishops, priests and deacons in a more than fraternal atmosphere; we rejoiced in the Holy Father’s meeting with the delegation of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Vatican on 11 March. All this is the work of the Holy Spirit who alone edifies his Church and makes it possible for her to grow through the centuries. In the same Spirit our prayer is raised to the Father of us all, who raised Christ from the dead so that he may bring to completion the work he began, the inscrutable providence we worship.