Ecumenical Prayer Service for Christian Unity

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 20:00

LAKE CHARLES – The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was celebrated in the Diocese of Lake Charles from January 18-25 and highlighted with an Ecumenical Prayer Service held in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The Rev. Karl Klaus, pastor of St. Luke Simpson United Methodist Church, presented the message while Rev. Msgr. Daniel Torres, Vicar General of the Diocese of Lake Charles, presided.    The annual event is sponsored jointly by the Diocese and the Imperial Calcasieu Cadre of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.    Rev. Klaus read the Gospel taken from St. John 21:23-26 where Scripture speaks of the necessity of the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying before it can bear fruit.    “I have always believed that, as Christians, there are many more things that unite us than divide us,” Rev. Klaus said. “I could go through a check list of denominational differences, doctrine and dogma, cross reference that list, and then identify those things upon which we agree, and those things we don’t.    “However, I think our faith is simpler than that,” he continued. “Like the proverbial instructions that say ‘a child can do it,’ all we need to do is apply child-like faith to our understanding of Christ and Him crucified, and we will find things that truly unite us.    He continued saying, “The simplest and most profound thing that unites us, first and foremost, is God’s love. From the beginning of time until the present day, it is obvious that God’s love has been and is present with us.”    Later in his message, Rev. Klaus said, “Ultimately, God’s love unites us by overturning nature’s most profound mystery: death. No matter how many near death experiences we have, not matter how many spiritual encounters we record, not matter our denial of it or morbid interest in it, death is a reality of life.    “Whether we are Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, non-denominational – for that matter, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or atheist – what unites all as human beings is death,” he continued. “We will all die. But, God’s love has an answer for that as well. We are united in God’s victory over death: Resurrection.”    The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem traces its foundations to the third century in Jerusalem where an order of hermit-monks provided medical care to pilgrims who came to the Holy City. To his “hospitaller order was added a military dimension in the Middle Ages, when Knights who had come on crusade became ill and joined with the ministering monks to provide care to the ill and protection from hostile forces.    In 1772, the Order was secularized in Europe and, by 1837, was placed under the spiritual care of the Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. The Order was revived in the United States in the 1900s and currently consists of over 2,500 members worldwide and has as its mission/purpose, the restoration of unity among all Christians and on-going care for the ill and suffering. Rev. Archimandrite Herbert J. May, pastor of Our Lady of Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Welsh, serves as the group’s president.