five ideas for involving your parish

Eastern Christians Day, which will take place this year on May 5, 2024, is a great opportunity to experience a privileged time of communion between Latin Christians and Eastern Christians and to (re)discover the richness of Eastern Christians. Here are five concrete ideas to involve your parish.

The date owes nothing to chance. Eastern Christians Day, which this year falls on Sunday May 5, is traditionally celebrated on the sixth Sunday of Easter during the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. In this story Luke, its author, recounts with a pen full of enthusiasm and vigor the first years of the Christian community. A Christian community that shares the same faith but is so rich in its diversity! To the Latin Christians are added the Christians of the East: Syriacs, Copts, Maronites, Greek-Melkites, Romanian and Ukrainian Greek-Catholics, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Syro-Malankars, Syro-Malabars, Chaldeans, Armenians… They represent almost of 15 million people, estimates the Œuvre d’Orient, at the origin of this day. And if we share the same faith, their daily lives but also their rites differ greatly from ours. Here are five ideas to involve your parish in this day.

Prayer intention

If every mass has a universal value, it can nevertheless be celebrated for particular intentions. In order to fully experience Eastern Christians Day in a parish, there is nothing better than to include during Mass a specific prayer intention for Eastern Christians. This can be one of the intentions during universal prayer:

Lord on this day of Eastern Christians, we pray to you for peace in this region of the world. Give our brothers and sisters in the East to keep hope and believe in a possible future on their lands

Here is also a prayer intention proposed by the Œuvre d’Orient that you can suggest to your priest or to the parish animation team for the Sunday Mass on May 5:

Lord,
On this blessed day of May 5, we gather in the unity of our hearts, on both sides of the Mediterranean. It is a time of sharing and communion, where our thoughts and prayers mingle in fraternal love.
We give you thanks for the closeness between the Christians of France and the Christians of the East, united in the faith which transcends borders. In your infinite wisdom, you have made the Mediterranean a village where what concerns them concerns us, where what affects me affects you.
May this day be marked by our commitment to participate, to pray and to meet our brothers and sisters on the other side of the sea that unites us. Grant us, Lord, the strength and grace to be instruments of peace and love and forgiveness, bearing witness to your message of unity and solidarity. Let us extend this prayer together on May 5.
Amen.

Integrate elements of oriental rites

In order to concretely experience this day during Sunday mass, it is also possible to suggest an oriental song during the mass, a recitation of the Our Father in Arabic or even a broader use of incense, very present in the oriental rites. Incense confers the sacred: it is used to sanctify, to bless, to venerate. Its smoke symbolizes the mystery of God Himself.

Ring the bells

Bells have accompanied the life of the Church since its origins. Beyond the noise of the world, they are discreet companions who invite those who are willing to listen to them to prayer, as a reminder that God is there, present in our midst. They are the sign of major events and loudly announce what constitutes the joys and sorrows of a community: baptisms, weddings or funerals. So why not make them ring out on this special day for our sisters and brothers in the East?

Testimony

Experiencing this day also means being interested in the reality experienced by Eastern Christians. A daily life that is often difficult and painful, as evidenced by recent events in the Holy Land, Armenia, Ukraine and even Ethiopia. Behind the news broadcast in the media, there are above all lives, paths of faith and testimonies of hope of which it is important to be aware in order to live this famous unity of the Church so dear to Christ.

Quest

“If the Christians of the East disappear, Christianity will no longer have roots,” Mgr Louis Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Church, warned Aleteia a few months ago. “This presence is symbolic and testifies to a strong vocation, that of proposing a path other than Islam.” The presence of Christians in the East becomes more difficult and more threatened every year. However, it is essential to continue to tirelessly bear witness to the love of Christ. To support them, it is possible why not contact an association such as the Oeuvre d’Orient or Aid to the Church in Distress, which act in these areas, in order to know their needs and participate, through a quest, to their financing needs.