English | Polski

Letters

from Robert Tyrała

Prayer for peace – ecumenical prayer of the Church, Mystery – The Pearls of Life

2009-05-31

Prayer for peace – ecumenical prayer of the Church
Mystery – “The Pearls of Life”
The 7th Letter before the 35th International Congress in Stockholm
Pentecost Sunday, Kraków 31st May 2009

This special time, a remarkable moment which we are going to experience during the Congress of our Federation to be held in Stockholm, and which we call “prayer for peace”, is so much connected with this special day in the life of the Church, that is, Pentecost Sunday. On this day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit the prayer for unity, peace, mutual understanding and concord springs from the very source, the essence of the Holy Spirit’s pouring out the gifts upon each of us. In 1979 during his first pilgrimage to his and my mother country John Paul II said in Warsaw: Lord, send out Your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth, this earth!” And what followed? The communist regime fell down, our political situation changed entirely, the borders were opened, people felt free. The Holy Spirit descended indeed and renewed our earth. This Pope, a great prophet, who himself was open to The Holy Spirit’s acting, became an instrument of unity and peace. And today we pray with exactly the same words: Lord, send out Your Spirit, send out Your Spirit and renew the face of the earth of the Church, the earth of Christian unity, the earth of Pueri Cantores, the earth of our hearts and minds. We are as if in the Room of the Last Supper awaiting the Holy Spirit-the Comforter, the Holy Spirit-the Unifier. We raise our prayer through “The Pearls of Life” – the prayer devised by Lutheran bishop Martin Lönnebo, who arranged it to practice courage, joy, moderation and life in closeness to God. Does God not pour out his Spirit upon us for that reason? So as to give us strength and courage to preach with our lives the Gospel; so as to fill our hearts with authentic joy which comes from Himself; so as to live close to God, in God, and to sink in Him, in order to act through Him, in Him and with Him, and to lead a truly Christian life. This is the Holy Spirit who enables our hearts to pray, since the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words (Rom 8:26); He enables us to give the testimony and each of us is sent out: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). And we, like the Apostles, hear those words: Go into the world and preach the gospel (Mk 16:15). My Pueri Cantores, you are the messengers of the Holy Spirit, for through music you preach the Gospel. The Holy Spirit fills us with His strength from above, thanks to which we are the ones to preach in all languages of the world the Gospel about Jesus who has risen from the dead! And words are not sufficient for us, as we have music which we use for evangelization. Our music which we sing out becomes an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and He uses us as the one. What is more, this music is used in the ecumenical dialogue becoming a way to unite Christians. This is our mission in the Church, and we cannot escape from it! This is the sense of the Descent of the Holy Spirit onto the earth of our hearts! That is why we are praying so vehemently: Lord, send out Your Spirit, send out Your Spirit and renew the face of the earth of the Church, the earth of Christian unity, the earth of Pueri Cantores, the earth of our hearts and minds.

Fr. Robert Tyrała, PhD
Church Assistant of The International Federation of Pueri Cantores

Back to all letters