Do you believe this?
January thoughts and encounters as we approach the week of prayer for Christian Unity in the Jubilee year of hope!
This year, 2025, we are also celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, a remarkable milestone of basic shared understanding about who Jesus really is for Christians. What a tangible expression of that unity of faith to which the Holy Spirit led the early Church in her multiple struggles. Persecutions had waned and the local churches could meet in 325 A.D. in Nicaea and iron out wrinkles in their common understanding. Despite the very different cultural and political contexts which deeply challenged her unity of teaching, they reached convincing agreement.
Magdala’s experiences with pastors
Despite some bad historical events and subsequent developments over two millennia, the first truth we can be certain of is that God’s love for every person is unconditional and in him we are one human family redeemed and united in his heart. In a recent in-depth conversation here in Magdala with a group of pastors from Washington State, a Lutheran pastor emphasized that we are already one in God’s love. However, a fellow traveler related that some of his community seriously questioned why he would even travel with people from such other denominations! Yet another pastor doubted in his own heart if he really belonged to this group of pastors. They were all from his very own county! All appreciated that he overcame that doubt.
Another pastor related how his seminary or university sacred-scripture professor had challenged the reformation student body, asking if they loved everyone. They felt comfortable answering in the affirmative. But then he asked if they loved Catholics. This pastor considers it a turning point for him. The professor helped them understand that one could not so easily, offhandedly, dismiss such a vast sector of Christianity, due to whatever prejudicial attitudes which may have been formerly relayed to them and a-critically assimilated. The students had probably not developed such prejudice on their own. They had possibly absorbed them either in their own homes as children or in schools or in their local church from direct preaching or from a shared feeling, or even from professors charged with teaching them sacred scripture in college. In this pastor’s blessed case, the experience unraveled some fabrics of prejudice woven over mind and heart.
Pastor Shawn later summed up this visit: “The vision for this visiting group of pastors representing multiple different Protestant denominations is to experience oneness in Christ. An encounter six thousand miles from home to the Holy Land is an ideal journey to learn, fellowship, worship, pray, and learn together. The greatest unifier in our common journey is Christ. Our time together with folks at Magdala was a special time to dialog, reflect, and consider how we can continue to take one step closer as we lead our different communities of faith when we return home.”
Hope will not disappoint! Rm 5:5
People experience the damaging effect of prejudice. But many people are working to overcome it. The Holy Spirit has been moving numerous folks in this direction throughout the centuries. The Guidelines for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this January 2025 track some of these gifts since 1740. They also offer the rich index of themes from the last 57 years of this annual prayer which engages all the Christian churches in every country around the world in multiple localities in each country. Sixty years ago, the entire Catholic Church formally committed itself to wholeheartedly working to foster Christian unity by focusing on what we positively share with others instead of on perceived problems. Together with the World Council of Churches, Catholics help prepare and animate the yearly prayer for Christian unity. We are all encouraged by the renewal this cooperation stimulates.
Original unity of the disciples
Where did the Church get its unity originally? Who wanted this unity in the first place? One place we can start to look is the gospel accounts of the beginnings of the Church.
Jesus calls different people little by little together. They are attracted to Jesus. Maybe they still do not understand him. They are all different. People may be very different, maybe even opposed to each other. Think of Nathaniel and his attitude to the people of Nazareth which unbeknownst to him could have led to his total dismissal of the messiah himself, Jn 1:46!
Other factors could have led to the dismissal in one’s mind of a fellow apostle. Think of Matthew the tax collector working with the Herodians and Romans and then think of Simon the Zealot, maybe a religious zealot or a political zealot, like those who rebelled against the Romans. Imagine Matthew and Simon walking together for days with Jesus in a small group from Tyre and Sidon to the Decapolis, Mk 7:31. That means walking from the present-day coast of Lebanon through Galilee to present-day Jordan. Consider their issues of food and sleeping conditions, hiking through difficult terrain and sometimes harsh weather! As they get to know each other many comments are spoken, reflecting what’s in their hearts. There had to be politically sensitive differences between them. They might easily get into an argument or even a fight, but then there’s the whole group around them which would make that a little bit more difficult or unattractive, even problematic. Someone might say, “Why don’t you guys just get along?” Walking with Jesus over the years encouraged mutual acceptance. That was just the minimum.
Jesus will prepare them as foundation stones and will build on them, just as God’s chosen people were built from the twelve tribes, cf. Rev 21:14. So, it is clear they will become one. Now they need to learn to build unity and overcome division because Jesus is forging them as one. They gradually become new people in Christ. The old has gone (almost) and the new has come (initially).
Remember the story when they all got angry at James and John for seeking the first places, Mk 10:35. Jesus started to teach them about how it is in the kingdom, that the greatest must make themselves the servants of the others. Just like parents do for their little children whom they love so much. It’s already written in nature as God created it, but something went wrong. Now Jesus is teaching this truth again. The greatest should serve the weakest, the precise purpose of each one’s endowed strengths and talents. Imagine the impact this had on their internal unity.
Jesus’ actions and prayer for oneness
Now observe the last supper. They find Jesus washing their feet, exemplifying servant love for the entire group. Jesus gets very personal and intimate with them and reveals intense pain in his heart exposing his deepest concerns and prayers. I invite you to ponder John chapter 17 prayerfully and then get to verses 20 - 23. Stop there! Pray that with Jesus. Then consider what level of unity do the disciples discover Jesus wants for them. What should their response be? How should they relate to one another from now on?
Jn 17 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Do you think they understood the reason Jesus gave for this unity, for this oneness? A summary glimpse of myriads of New Testament texts would solidly affirm this. Maybe I will pursue this subject more closely in upcoming Crossroads articles. To be continued!
You are invited to check out the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this January in your local community. First start here:
- Worldwide Texts for 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: "Do you believe this?" (John 11:26) with access to the same texts in six languages prepared by the World Council of Churches together with the Catholic Church and published by the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/news/2024/2024-05-20-wpcu-2025.html
- International Resources for the 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and throughout the year http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/settimana-di-preghiera-per-l-unita/semaine-de-priere-pour-l-unite-des-chretiens-20241/anglais.html The guidelines offer some interesting historical details about the history of the Nicene Creed which all Christians share. For newcomers, this webpage also offers a complete picture of how this Week process of Prayer for Christian Unity originated and grew to its present reality. How encouraging! From a preliminary reading it would seem that the Holy Spirit is moving this whole forward. For this we can be very grateful and filled with hope. Hope does not disappoint! Rm 5:5. Do you believe this? Jn 11:26
Get to know...
Ola Choufani
Ola Choufani was born in Nazareth before her two sisters and brother. Her mom was a bank clerk. Her dad’s air-conditioning company served various cities. This brought his family into contact also with many Jewish families and some great friendships arose. Providence had them meet the famous Lebanese singer, Wadih El Safi, who was even a relative of theirs. In the mid-90s, her dad began organizing scores of concerts and large parties for 200-400 participants in Israel, Jordan, Taaba in Egypt, etc.
Ola’s teenage years benefited. With her parents’ encouragement she was already running two small enterprises she had started while finishing high school and studying tourism at Haifa University. She loved meeting all kinds of people. Her family had strong friendships in France, Italy and African countries. With professional / commercial support from a Bnei Brak Jewish family she opened her health cosmetics clinic in the street level of her parents’ home. Later, another partnership with Nurit arose selling Italian children’s clothes by Maria Giovanni, Pinco Pallino, etc.
Throughout this process, managing employees, running two businesses, Ola learned to deal with people, fulfill her responsibilities, handle economic issues, plus many other facets of service-oriented enterprise. Work and studies kept her busy. Later she would go on to earn a second degree in education and business from WIZO College, Haifa.
Her uncle, Fr Emile Choufani, ran St Joseph’s Catholic School and co-opted this energetic young woman who enjoyed people and was always looking to share and build community. She served as school administration secretary for twenty-three years. This replaced her business. Lately she was longing for a change. Now Ola serves as administration secretary for the Nazareth Baptist School.
While studying physics at Tel Aviv university, her brother had a surprising religious awakening which he shared with his family. They all became drawn to a charismatic style of Christian faith. Since 2006 Ola identified with a Baptist church where she found an intimate warm community. Subsequently she got involved in different Christian communities.
As a teen, Ola was drawn toward tourism. In 2022, she jumped at the opportunity when her friends alerted her to a part-time position at Magdala. She wants Magdala’s spiritual and peaceful atmosphere to be in her weekly routine. “Magdala is a humble place, a great place for people. Mary Magdalene was a humble person. You feel this in the unique environment here … there is time for the Lord. It is like a calling for me in Magdala!”
Ola’s desire is reflected in her lament: “People today don’t know the connections that flourished between the Arab and Jewish cultures in earlier decades.”
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