“That they may be one: Mary and prayer for unity”

## I. “As same as you in me and me in you”: The Trinitarian Model of Unity

John 17,21 establishes the model for ecumenical unity in the intra-Trinitarian unity. “As” (kathos), the same word structuring the commandment of love (John 13:34), points to a real analogy, not just a metaphorical one: the unity Jesus asks for his disciples is participation in the unity of the Father and the Son. Not an external imitation but an inner dwelling: “so that they also may be one in us” (hina kai autoi en hēmin ôsin).

This “dwell[ing] in us,” the life of the disciples within the Trinitarian life, is what grace theology describes as “the Trinity’s indwelling.” Baptism introduces the believer into this dwelling. The Eucharist deepens it. Grace-filled life sustains it. The unity of the Church is not, ultimately, a human achievement; it is the fruit of this common dwelling in the Trinitarian life. Christians are “one” to the extent that they are “in” the Father and “in” the Son by the Spirit.

The divisions within Christianity are, from this perspective, ruptures in this common dwelling. It’s not that separated Churches are “outside” of the Trinitarian life, but rather that their dwelling in that life is partial, fragmented, wounded by historical divisions. The ecumenical vocation is the call to recover the fullness of this common dwelling, not through institutional fusion (which would be a falsification of unity), but through conversion to the love the Spirit pours out into hearts (Romans 5:5).

Ecumenical theology in the 20th century, manifested most concretely in bilateral dialogues between Rome, Orthodox Churches and Protestant communities, has sought to articulate this Trinitarian unity as both foundation and horizon. The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches document *Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry* (1982) and the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Declaration on Justification (1999) are concrete steps in this path, animated by the prayer of John 17.

## II. Mary as Figure of Ecclesiastic Unity

# Maria in the Ecumenical Vocation of the Church

Mary holds a unique place in the ecumenical vocation of the Church. She is revered, in varying degrees and forms, by the major Christian traditions: Catholicism (with its Marian dogmas and rich devotional tradition), Orthodoxy (through its icons of the Theotokos and its Marian hymnography), and, more cautiously, by Protestant traditions that never entirely abandoned the Marian figure (the Augsburg Confession and the Smalcald Articles preserve her dignity), and which experienced a significant rediscovery in the 20th century through authors like H. Asmussen, W. Stählin, and W. Pannenberg on the Lutheran side, and through the work of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission (ARCIC) on the Anglican side (ARCIC, *Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ*, Seattle, 2004). This shared veneration, marked by genuine differences, points to a common foundation.

The document from the Groupe des Dombes (*Marie dans le dessein de Dieu et la communion des saints*, 1998), resulting from decades of dialogue between Catholic and French-speaking Protestant theologians, identified Mary as a potential “point of convergence” in ecumenism. The key lies in distinguishing between a Christocentric mariology (which presents Mary as a figure of Christ and the Church) and a mariology that exalts Mary in herself. Mariology that is disconnected from christology is a source of division.

The Rosary prayer, seemingly distinctly “Catholic” in its form, has recently been recognized by theologians from other traditions as a form of meditation on the mysteries of Christ with ecumenical value: meditating on the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection with Mary is not “mariocentric,” it is Christocentric viewed through the perspective of the Mother. The Rosary, correctly understood, can be an ecumenical prayer because it is fundamentally a prayer on the mysteries of Christ.

John Paul II, who had one of the most Marian-focused pontificates of the 20th century, was also the pope who made the greatest advance in ecumenism in history: his visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (1979), the Common Declaration with Patriarch Bartholomew I (Rome, June 29, 1995), the historic visit to Romania and the joint declaration with Patriarch Teoctist (1999), as well as significant ecumenical documents like the encyclical *Ut Unum Sint* (1995). His Marian spirituality was not an obstacle to ecumenism but rather one of its motors, because he understood Mary as a figure of unity that Christ prayed for in John 17.

## III. “That the world may believe”: Unity and Mission

# John 17,21 Continues: “For the world to believe that you sent me”

In John 17:21, it states: **”for the world may believe that you sent me.”** The unity of the Church is not an end in itself but is ordered towards mission. The world believes when it sees the unity among Christians. Thus, the division within Christianity is not merely an internal tragedy but a hindrance to mission. When the world observes Christians splitting, it does not see the sign of John 13:35 (“By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”).

This connection between unity and mission has a direct Marian dimension. Mary, as **Mater Ecclesiae**, lies at the heart of both unity and mission. She who prays with the Apostles in the Upper Room, before Pentecost and before universal mission, is the figure of the Church united in prayer preparing for mission. The Pentecost that the Upper Room awaits is simultaneously the gift of unity (the same Spirit dwells in all) and the gift of mission (the same Spirit sends them all).

World Youth Day (WYD), inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in 1986, stands as one of the most visible contemporary signs of this unity serving mission. The presence of Mary at this event, the Marian icon of **Salus Populi Romani**, entrusted to young people by John Paul II in 2003 and who travels with the Cross of WYD, along with the tradition of entrusting young Christians to Mary at the end of each World Youth Day, expresses the intuition that the unity of young Christian believers worldwide has a Marian heart. Mary, who gathers Christ’s spiritual children around her, is the figure of unity required for mission.

St. Louis Maria de Montfort’s Marian theology (in *True Devotion to Mary*, nn. 47-59) prophesied that the “last times,” not in a strict apocalyptic sense but as a reference to the final period of Church history leading up to the Parousia, would be marked by an intensification of Marian devotion as a privileged tool for evangelization. This prophecy found historical confirmation in significant Marian movements of the 20th century: Fátima, Medjugorje (the subject of a 2024 Note from the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith recognizing positive spiritual fruits without pronouncing on the supernaturality of the apparitions), and approved apparitions in various parts of the world, which coincided with a renewal of mission and unity in many local churches. The connection between Mary and eucharistic and missionary ecclesiology is a data point of historical experience that theology seeks to understand.

## IV. “In them and in me, so that they may be perfectly one”: The Perfection of Unity

John 17:23: **”In them and in me, so that they may be perfectly one.”** The perfection of unity (**teteleitai eis hen**) is the eschatological horizon: not fully attained historically but guiding every historical process. Every concrete ecumenical step is an anticipation of this perfection. Every division maintained is a refusal of Christ’s vocation as stated in his most solemn prayer.

## Maria Glorified in the Assumption

Maria glorified in the Assumption is already in this **”perfect unity”** with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. She who is **”one”** with the Trinity in the fullest possible way for a creature, is the figure and guarantee of **”perfect unity”** for which Christ prays. Contemplating Maria in glory is contemplating the horizon of unity we await. Invoking her is asking that she intercede for the fulfillment of the prayer Christ offered to the Father on the night he was betrayed.

## The Ecumenical Tradition

The ecumenical tradition has progressively recognized that unity cannot be purely institutional or legal; it must be spiritual, of conversion and prayer. The **”Week of Prayer for Christian Unity”** (January 18-25) and the **”Ecumenical Walk”** promoted by many dioceses are expressions of this conviction: unity begins with prayer, which is precisely what Jesus did in John 17. And Mary, who **”persevered in prayer unanimously”** in the Cenacle, is the model of this persistent prayer awaiting the Spirit who **”guides all into every truth,”** including the truth of unity Christ requested.

## Maria: Figure of the United Church in Prayer

*Maria, figure of the Church united in prayer at the Cenacle, is the heart of the ecumenical vocation founded by John 17,21: unity reflecting the Trinitarian life and making the world capable of believing.*

## References

– Pope John Paul II, *Ut Unum Sint*, nn. 21-27 e 79 (1995).
– Groupe des Dombes, *Marie dans le dessein de Dieu* (1998).
– Vatican Council II, *Unitatis Redintegratio* (1964).
– St. Louis Marie de Montfort, *True Devotion to Mary*, n. 49-54.
– H. U. von Balthasar, *The Office of Peter and the Structure of the Church* (1986).

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