CAPG's Blog 

"That all be one, O Lord, bring - bring them home -
The "other sheep" to thy one fold on earth,
To him who sits in Peter's Chair at Rome,
Thy Vicar, since the age which saw thy birth;
That with one Shepherd under one command
May march thy conquering hosts in every land.

"Ut omnes unum sint," O lord, we pray
That all be drawn within thy one, true fold,
Back to thy Church - from which the wand'rers stray
And the true Faith she keeps like saints of Old.
O bring them back, Good Shepherd of the sheep;
And rouse the heathen nations from their sleep. Amen"

Source: Catholic Hymns for the People, James Martin Raker 1919 

On this opening day of the Chair of Unity Octave, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Peter to whom was first confided the primacy and supremacy as the Vicar of Christ. This feast was reestablished by Pope Paul IV in 1558 to emphasize the authority and the primacy of the Papacy, after the Protestants tried to show that St. Peter never lived or died in Rome. This feast providentially stressed the role of St. Peter as Christ's Vicar on earth and it symbolizes the unity of the Church and the authority which St. Peter and his successors received from God.

Humanly speaking, prayer for the unity of all men in the true Church seems fantastic; it seems an unattainable goal. For there are more than two billion people on the earth; more than half of these are not Christian in any form, while seven hundred million who call themselves Christians are not members of the true Church. Moreover, the great plan of converting the world has been going on for nearly two thousand years and it is still so fare from realization. How can unity come? How will Christ's prayer be answered? It is not foolish even to dream of such a gigantic venture? But this is not a human goal at stake; it does not depend on the flimsy means of human thought and action; it is founded on sacrifice and prayer and grace.

The Blessed Mother of God can conquer souls for her Son. She dispenses the grace by which men come to know and love Him and the grace by which the faithful become zealous apostles fired with the desire of winning souls. As the late Bishop Francis X. Ford, heroic missioner in China, said: "Our Blessed Mother wants us to share anxiety for the conversion of the world...she wants us to carry about with us in our daily work this deep anxiety for the conversion of souls, and a corresponding generosity in offering reparation for the sins of the world...Our hearts must be like the Heart of Mary: anxious, yearning for the conversion of all people."

Though the problem is staggering and the task seem impossible, the gentle but powerful influence of Mary will overcome the forces of evil and of disunity. Mary is not only the humble Maid of Nazareth but the woman clothed with the sun, formidable as an army ready for battle - she will vanquish the powers of hell and win souls to Christ. As Pope Pius XI declared: "May Mary, the most holy Queen of the Apostles, graciously second our common undertakings; Mary, who since as she holds in her mother's heart all men who were committed to her on Calvary, cherishes and loves, not only those who happily enjoy the fruits of the Redemption, but those likewise who still do not know that they have been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

If all the faithful took an active interest in the Octave what a powerful wave of grace would sweep over the world! Or as Bishop Ford wrote: "If the Catholics throughout the world...were to redouble their prayers for the conversion of those outside the fold, the united prayers that would storm heaven would without doubt mark the year as a Pentecostal renewal. Our participation in this octave will at least enlarge our viewpoint, broaden our charity, and make us see in every man a brother whom Christ is yearning to welcome to His sacraments. "

Source: Father Titius Crannis, S.A. The American Ecclesiastical Review, Volume 130, Herman Joseph Heuser Catholic University of America Press, 1954