Reflection on Jn 17:21

In this verse, Jesus prays for the present and future apostles and disciples and for their internal unity. This unity is no legal unity or unity within a structure. The condition of true unity is that every disciple of Christ must first be in unity with the Father through sincere repentance and saving faith. Prayers for a kind of globalization of Christians in the spirit of New Age with the aim of establishing a unified structure is the exact opposite of what Jesus prayed for. Such unity is a unity of people who betrayed the Gospel of Christ and received the spirit of this world. It is a unity in the spirit of Antichrist, in the spirit of heresy. This false unity will not stand either in the hour of death or on the Day of Judgment. Such false unity is represented for instance by the Focolare movement which unites with Buddhists, Hindus, animists… In the Nostra aetate declaration, this false unity is expressed by so-called reverence for other religions and their demons. The continuation of this false unity is the gesture of John Paul II in his prayers with pagans in Assisi. This unity does not lead the world to believe in Jesus Christ, the only Saviour; on the contrary, it leads even the last true Christians to fall away from the Christian faith.

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