Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025Sample

The Paschal Mystery: Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Patristic Reading

From the Latin tradition
God the Father was very merciful: he sent his creative Word who, in coming to deliver us, came to the very place and spot in which we had lost life, and broke the bonds of our fetters. His light appeared and made the darkness of the prison disappear and hallowed our birth and destroyed death, loosing those same fetters in which we were enchained.
- Irenaeus of Lyon [c. 135-198], Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, 38

For reflection:

1.We know that we will all die. How does belief in Jesus destroying death change the way we approach this reality?

2.“God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross. He is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which he is with us and helps us.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

3.As the Risen One, Jesus is with us until the end of all time. In what ways does his companionship encourage you in your daily life?

Prayer

Let us pray
Lord our God,
glorifying your Son Jesus, you have freed us from death.
Through his resurrection,
awaken our slumbering hearts,
enlighten all who seek you
and make the morning star shine upon us,
Jesus Christ, the Living One,
who is Lord for ever and ever. AMEN.