Five centuries after the shattering of Christendom, and ten after the Great Schism of 1054 that divided the Eastern and Western Churches, many Christians--even many Catholics--have become complacent about the divisions in the Body of Christ.

Yet Christ's prayer on Holy Thursday that we may all be one, as He and His Father are one, was not simply a devout wish but a divine command. Numerous news reports (and even more rumors) indicate that the SSPX has rejected (or, at least, not fully accepted) the conditions that the Vatican has set for the restoration of full unity. This sad news comes at the very time that the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is in Rome to celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29, in a sign of hope for the reunion of East and West.

Now, more than ever, our prayers for unity are needed. Following Christ's example, we should pray To Obtain the Reunion of the Christians of the East, and offer more general prayers for Christian unity in A Devout Exercise for the Unity of the Church.