Renewal and
conversion
15.
Passing from principles, from the obligations of the Christian conscience, to
the actual practice of the ecumenical journey towards unity, the Second Vatican
Council emphasizes above all the need for interior conversion. The
messianic proclamation that "the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand", and the subsequent
call to "repent, and believe in the Gospel" (.Mk
1:15) with
which Jesus begins his mission, indicate the essential element of every new
beginning: the fundamental need for evangelization at every stage of the
Church's journey of salvation. This is true in a special way of the process
begun by the Second Vatican Council, when it indicated as a dimension of
renewal the ecumenical task of uniting divided Christians. "There can
be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart".21
The Council calls for
personal conversion as well as for communal conversion. The desire of every
Christian Community for unity goes hand in hand with its fidelity to the
Gospel. In the case of individuals who live their Christian vocation, the
Council speaks of interior conversion, of a renewal of mind.22
Each one therefore ought to
be more radically converted to the Gospel and, without ever losing sight of
God's plan, change his or her way of looking at things. Thanks to ecumenism,
our contemplation of "the mighty works of God" (mirabilia
Dei) has been enriched by new horizons, for which the Triune God calls us
to give thanks: the knowledge that the Spirit is at work in other Christian
Communities, the discovery of examples of holiness, the experience of the immense
riches present in the communion of saints, and contact with unexpected
dimensions of Christian commitment. In a corresponding way, there is an
increased sense of the need for repentance: an awareness of certain exclusions
which seriously harm fraternal charity, of certain refusals to forgive, of a
certain pride, of an unevangelical insistence on
condemning the "other side", of a disdain born of an unhealthy
presumption. Thus, the entire life of Christians is marked by a concern for
ecumenism; and they are called to let themselves be shaped, as it were, by that
concern.
16.
In the teaching of the Second Vatican Council there is a clear connection
between renewal, conversion and reform. The Council states that "Christ
summons the Church, as she goes her pilgrim way, to that continual reformation
of which she always has need, insofar as she is an institution of human beings
here on earth. Therefore, if the influence of events or of the times has led to
deficiencies ... these should be appropriately rectified at the proper
moment".23 No Christian Community can exempt itself from this
call.
By engaging in frank
dialogue, Communities help one another to look at themselves together in the
light of the Apostolic Tradition. This leads them to ask themselves whether
they truly express in an adequate way all that the Holy Spirit has transmitted
through the Apostles.24 With regard to the Catholic Church, I have
frequently recalled these obligations and perspectives, as for example on the
anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus' 25 or in commemorating the eleven hundred
years since the evangelizing activity of Saints Cyril and Methodius.26
More recently, the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on
Ecumenism, issued with my approval by the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, has applied them to the pastoral sphere.27
17.
With regard to other Christians, the principal documents of the Commission on Faith
and Order 28 and the statements of numerous bilateral dialogues
have already provided Christian Communities with useful tools for discerning
what is necessary to the ecumenical movement and to the conversion which it
must inspire. These studies are important from two points of view: they
demonstrate the remarkable progress already made, and they are a source of hope
inasmuch as they represent a sure foundation for further study.
The increase of fellowship
in a reform which is continuous and carried out in the light of the Apostolic
Tradition is certainly, in the present circumstances of Christians, one of the
distinctive and most important aspects of ecumenism. Moreover, it is an
essential guarantee for its future. The faithful of the Catholic Church cannot
forget that the ecumenical thrust of the Second Vatican Council is one
consequence of all that the Church at that time committed herself to doing in
order to re-examine herself in the light of the Gospel and the great Tradition.
My Predecessor, Pope John XXIII, understood this clearly: in calling the
Council, he refused to separate renewal from ecumenical openness.29 At
the conclusion of the Council, Pope Paul VI solemnly sealed the Council's
commitment to ecumenism, renewing the dialogue of charity with the Churches in
communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople, and joining the Patriarch in
the concrete and profoundly significant gesture which "condemned to
oblivion" and "removed from memory and from the midst of the
Church" the excommunications of the past. It is worth recalling that the
establishment of a special body for ecumenical matters coincided with the
launching of preparations for the Second Vatican Council 30 and that
through this body the opinions and judgments of the other Christian Communities
played a part in the great debates about Revelation, the Church, the nature of
ecumenism and religious freedom.
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