Prayer for Christian unity

We acknowledge and confess that the advent of Thy Son in our hearts
must create in us an immediate drawing towards unity:
«I in them, and Thou in me,
so that they may become perfectly one,
so that the world may know that that Thou hast sent me
and hast loved them ever as Thou hast loved Me» (Jn 17:23).
It follows, therefore, that any opposition on our part
to the perfection of unity in Thee,
a unity which Thou hast sought for us,
is in us weakness of faith
and lack of charity.
These shortcomings cause us to place
ideological, political, and racial controversies
above the demands of conscience, faith, and love
and cause us to stifle the voice of Christ in our hearts
in order to satisfy the world and man.

Holy Father,
glorify Thy Son in the life of Thy Church,
so that the Church may glorify Thee and glorify Thy Son
when all have rid themselves
of everything that hinders unity and hampers charity.
Permit it not, o Lord, that Thy people should cease from being,
and try to remove sin by means that are themselves sinful,
or to cure evil by another evil;
permit it not that unity should be sought
through differencies of opinion,
charity confounded with politics, and racial alignments
considered as a spiritual force.

Matta el Meskin