VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 018   
   DATE 26-01-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Solemnity of the conversion of St. Paul: "We are all at the service of the   
   one Gospel"   
   - Angelus: God too thirsts for us   
   - New appeal for a cease to the violence in Ukraine   
   - The most effective antidote to violence is accepting difference as richness   
   - Francis: "Unity is achieved by walking together"   
   - Ten years after "Dignitas connubii": in search of swift solutions   
   - Audiences   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Solemnity of the conversion of St. Paul: "We are all at the service of the   
   one Gospel"   
    Vatican City, 25 January 2015 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the Pope presided   
   at the second Vespers on the solemnity of the conversion of St. Paul, bringing   
   to a close the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the theme of which this   
   year was "Give me to drink" (John, 4.7).   
    Representatives from other Churches and communities in Rome were present, and   
   the celebration concluded with an apostolic blessing. In his homily, the full   
   text of which is published below, Pope Francis emphasised that Jesus' thirst -   
   which is described in the Gospel passage of the Samaritan woman - goes well   
   beyond physical thirst. "It is also the thirst for an encounter, the wish to   
   establish a dialogue with the woman, thus offering her the possibility of a   
   path of inner conversion".   
    "On his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus passes through Samaria", began the   
   Pope. "He has no problem dealing with Samaritans, who were considered by the   
   Jews to be heretics, schismatics, separate. His attitude tells us that   
   encounter with those who are different from ourselves can make us grow.   
    "Weary from his journey, Jesus does not hesitate to ask the Samaritan woman   
   for something to drink. His thirst, however, is much more than physical: it is   
   also a thirst for encounter, a desire to enter into dialogue with that woman   
   and to invite her to make a journey of interior conversion. Jesus is patient,   
   respectful of the person before him, and gradually reveals himself to her. His   
   example encourages us to seek a serene encounter with others. To understand   
   one another, and to grow in charity and truth, we need to pause, to accept and   
   listen to one another. In this way, we already begin to experience unity.   
   Unity grows along the way; it never stands still. Unity happens when we walk   
   together.   
    "The woman of Sychar asks Jesus about the place where God is truly   
   worshipped. Jesus does not side with the mountain or the temple, but goes to   
   the heart of the matter, breaking down every wall of division. He speaks   
   instead of the meaning of true worship: 'God is spirit, and those who worship   
   him must worship in spirit and truth'. So many past controversies between   
   Christians can be overcome when we put aside all polemical or apologetic   
   approaches, and seek instead to grasp more fully what unites us, namely, our   
   call to share in the mystery of the Father's love revealed to us by the Son   
   through the Holy Spirit. Christian unity, we are convinced, will not be the   
   fruit of subtle theoretical discussions in which each party tries to convince   
   the other of the soundness of their opinions. When the Son of Man comes, he   
   will find us still discussing! We need to realise that, to plumb the depths of   
   the mystery of God, we need one another, we need to encounter one another and   
   to challenge one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who harmonises   
   diversities and overcomes conflicts, reconciles differences".   
    Gradually, continued the Pope, "the Samaritan woman comes to realise that the   
   one who has asked her for a drink is able to slake her own thirst. Jesus in   
   effect tells her that he is the source of living water which can satisfy her   
   thirst for ever. Our human existence is marked by boundless aspirations: we   
   seek truth, we thirst for love, justice and freedom. These desires can only be   
   partially satisfied, for from the depths of our being we are prompted to seek   
   'something more', something capable of fully quenching our thirst. The   
   response to these aspirations is given by God in Jesus Christ, in his paschal   
   mystery. From the pierced side of Jesus there flowed blood and water. He is   
   the brimming fount of the water of the Holy Spirit, 'the love of God poured   
   into our hearts on the day of our baptism. By the working of the Holy Spirit,   
   we have become one in Christ, sons in the Son, true worshippers of the Father.   
   This mystery of love is the deepest ground of the unity which binds all   
   Christians and is much greater than their historical divisions. To the extent   
   that we humbly advance towards the Lord, then, we also draw nearer to one   
   another".   
    Her encounter with Jesus "made the Samaritan women a missionary. Having   
   received a greater and more important gift than mere water from a well, she   
   leaves her jar behind and runs back to tell her townspeople that she has met   
   the Christ. Her encounter with Jesus restored meaning and joy to her life, and   
   she felt the desire to share this with others. Today there are so many men and   
   women around us who are weary and thirsting, and who ask us Christians to give   
   them something to drink. It is a request which we cannot evade. In the call to   
   be evangelisers, all the Churches and Ecclesial Communities discover a   
   privileged setting for closer cooperation. For this to be effective, we need   
   to stop being self-enclosed, exclusive, and bent on imposing a uniformity   
   based on merely human calculations. Our shared commitment to proclaiming the   
   Gospel enables us to overcome proselytism and competition in all their forms.   
   All of us are at the service of the one Gospel".   
    "In this moment of prayer for unity, I would also like to remember our   
   martyrs, the martyrs of today. They are witnesses to Jesus Christ, and they   
   are persecuted and killed because they are Christians. Those who persecute   
   them make no distinction between the religious communities to which they   
   belong. They are Christians and for that they are persecuted. This, brothers   
   and sisters, is the ecumenism of blood", emphasised Francis.   
    He continued, "Mindful of this testimony given by our martyrs today, and with   
   this joyful certainty, I offer a cordial and fraternal greeting to His   
   Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, the representative of the Ecumenical   
   Patriarch, His Grace David Moxon, the personal representative in Rome of the   
   Archbishop of Canterbury, and "all the representatives of the various Churches   
   and Ecclesial Communions gathered here to celebrate the Feast of the   
   Conversion of Saint Paul". He added, "I am also pleased to greet the members   
   of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church   
   and the Orthodox Churches, and I offer them my best wishes for the   
   fruitfulness of the plenary session to be held in these coming days. I also   
   greet the students from the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, and the young   
   recipients of study grants from by the Committee for Cultural Collaboration   
   with the Orthodox Churches, centred in the Pontifical Council for Promoting   
   Christian Unity".   
    Also present, he said, "are men and women religious from various Churches and   
   Ecclesial Communities who have taken part in an ecumenical meeting organised   
   by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of   
   Apostolic Life, in conjunction with the Pontifical Council for Promoting   
   Christian Unity, to mark the Year for Consecrated Life. Religious life, as   
   prophetic sign of the world to come, is called to offer in our time a witness   
   to that communion in Christ which transcends all differences and finds   
   expression in concrete gestures of acceptance and dialogue. The pursuit of   
   Christian unity cannot be the sole prerogative of individuals or religious   
   communities particularly concerned with this issue. A shared knowledge of the   
   different traditions of consecrated life, and a fruitful exchange of   
   experiences, can prove beneficial for the vitality of all forms of religious   
   life in the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities".   
    "Dear brothers and sisters", he concluded, "today all of us who thirst for   
   peace and fraternity trustingly implore from our heavenly Father, through   
   Jesus Christ the one priest and mediator, and through the intercession of the   
   Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostle Paul and all the saints, the gift of full   
   communion between all Christians, so that 'the sacred mystery of the unity of   
   the Church' may shine forth as the sign and instrument of reconciliation for   
   the whole world".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: God too thirsts for us   
    Vatican City, 25 January 2015 (VIS) - At midday today the Pope appeared at   
   the window of his study to pray the Sunday Angelus with the faithful gathered   
   in St. Peter's Square and commented on today's Gospel reading, which relates   
   the beginning of Jesus' preaching immediately after the arrest of St. John the   
   Baptist.   
    "Jesus' announcement is similar to that of John, with the significant   
   difference that Jesus does not indicate that another is to come: Jesus Himself   
   is the fulfilment of the promise; He is the 'good news' to believe in, to   
   receive and to communicate to men and women of all time, so that they too   
   entrust their existence to Him. Jesus Christ Himself is the living Word and He   
   is active in history: he who listens to and follows Him will enter the Kingdom   
   of God".   
    "Jesus is the fulfilment of the divine promise because it is He who gives   
   mankind the Holy Spirit, the 'living water' that quenches the thirst of our   
   restless heart for life, love, freedom, peace: our thirst for God", explained   
   Francis. Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman, 'Give me to drink', were the   
   theme of this year's annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which   
   concludes this afternoon with the second Vespers in the Roman Basilica of St.   
   Paul Outside-the-Walls "to pray fervently to the Lord, so that He might   
   strengthen our commitment to the full unity of all Christians". He added, "it   
   is an ugly thing, that Christians are divided. But Jesus wants us to be   
   united: one body. Our sins and our history have divided us and we must   
   therefore pray for the Spirit to unite us once more".   
    "God, who made Himself man, had our thirst, not only for water, but above all   
   the thirst for a full life, free from the slavery of evil and death. At the   
   same time, with His incarnation God placed His thirst, because God also   
   thirsts, in the heart of a man: Jesus of Nazareth. God thirsts for us, our   
   hearts, our love, and placed this thirst in Jesus' heart. Therefore, in the   
   heart of Christ, human and divine thirst meets. And the desire for the unity   
   of his disciples belongs to this thirst".   
    "May Jesus' thirst increasingly become our own", he concluded. "Let us   
   therefore continue to pray and strive for the full unity of the Disciples of   
   Christ, in the certainty that He Himself is at our side and sustains us with   
   the strength of His Spirit so that this goal can be reached".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    New appeal for a cease to the violence in Ukraine   
    Vatican City, 26 January 2015 (VIS) - At the end of today's Angelus prayer, a   
   boy and a girl joined the Pope at the window of his study to read a message of   
   peace on behalf of Catholic Action of the diocese of Rome, which concludes its   
   traditional journey of the "Caravan of Peace" during these days. The young   
   people of Catholic Action present in the square released a balloon containing   
   messages of peace.   
    Beforehand, the Pope recalled "with deep concern the escalation of the   
   clashes in east Ukraine, which continue to claim many victims among the   
   civilian population. While I assure my prayers to those who suffer, I renew my   
   heartfelt appeal for the resumption of attempts at dialogue in order to bring   
   an end to the hostilities".   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)