Day 5: Separated brethren

On the fifth day of the Divine Mercy Novena, the Lord turns to the souls of separated brethren: those baptized Christians who do not stand in full communion with the Catholic Church. The Catholic theology of ecumenism, formally developed at the Second Vatican Council in Unitatis Redintegratio (1964), is anticipated and expressed in the Lord's words to Saint Faustina nearly thirty years earlier.

The Lord's words to Saint Faustina

"Today bring to Me the souls of those who have separated themselves from My Church, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church, My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion." (Diary 1218)

The image is striking: the divisions among Christians are wounds in the Body of the Lord, and reunion is the healing of those wounds. The Lord's prayer at the Last Supper, "that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21), is the theological backdrop of this fifth day.

Today's prayer (from Diary 1219)

Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of our separated brethren. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon the souls of our separated brethren, especially upon those who have squandered Your blessings and misused Your graces by obstinately persisting in their errors. Do not look upon their errors, but upon the love of Your Son and upon His bitter Passion, which He underwent for their sake, since they, too, are enclosed in His Most Compassionate Heart. Bring it about that they also may glorify Your great mercy for endless ages. Amen.

The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Offer it today for Christian unity: for the Orthodox Churches, for the historic Protestant communions, for the Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, for the believers in lands where Christianity has been so divided that the original unity is barely visible, for individual Christians of other communions in your own family or workplace.

Reflection

The Catholic Church teaches that the divisions among Christians are contrary to the will of Christ, scandalize the world, and damage the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature (Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio 1). The work of ecumenism is not optional in the Catholic understanding; it is a duty that arises from the Lord's own prayer for unity.

The novena's fifth day is, in this light, a participation in the work of ecumenism. We do not pretend that the doctrinal divisions are unreal or unimportant. Catholic theology recognizes serious differences over the papacy, the Marian dogmas, the seven sacraments, the teaching authority of the Church. But we also recognize, with the Council, that "all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church" (UR 3).

The Lord's prayer in John 17 is the prayer the Catholic Church continues to pray on every Holy Thursday and on every fifth day of every Divine Mercy Novena. If you have separated brethren in your own family or close circle (a sibling who has left the Catholic Church for an Evangelical congregation, a spouse from another Christian tradition, a friend who has turned to Eastern Orthodoxy without entering full communion), name them today. Bring this person, with all the separated brethren of the world, into the unity for which the Lord prayed.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Jesus, I trust in You.