Page 316 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 311

CHAPTER 40 GO PREACH THE GOSPEL 311
and the sacraments and resist persuasion. Possibly you can
induce one of these to do something which requires a smaller
degree of cooperation. Get the Sacred Heart enthroned in that
home and you have already won the day. They will lift
themselves farther and the others with them. In the end
people who have dragged each other down by bad example
will prove an inspiration to each other.” (Father Michael
Creedon, first Spiritual Director of Concilium Legionis
Mariae.)
“This robber stole Paradise! No one before him ever received such a
promise not Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, or Moses, or the prophets, or
apostles; the thief pressed in before all these! But his faith also
surpassed theirs! He saw Jesus tormented, and adored him as if he
were in glory. He saw him nailed to a cross, and petitioned him as if
he were enthroned. He saw him condemned, and asked a favour of
him as of a king. O admirable thief! thou didst see a crucified man,
and thou didst proclaim a God.” (St. John Chrysostom)

3. THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR SISTER
CHURCHES OF THE ORTHODOX TRADITION
The work of bringing the message of Jesus Christ to every
person, which, in the words of Pope Paul VI, is the “essential
mission of the Church” (EN 14), is closely linked to that other
great commitment of the Church which is the promotion of
reconciliation and unity among Christians. We recall here
the prayer of our Lord at the Last Supper., “May they all be
one. Father may they be one in Us, as You are in Me and I am
in You, so that the world may believe it was You who sent
Me.” (Jn 17:21)
In the wake of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
Christian Unity is one of the great priorities of the Catholic
Church in these times, for as the same Council points out
“the division among Christians openly contradicts the will of
Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy
cause, the preaching of the gospel to every creature”. (UR 1).
In the context of the above the following quotation from
Bl. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter “Orientale Lumen”, written
as an aid to restoring unity with all Christians of the East, is
of the greatest importance:
“Since in fact, we believe that the venerable and ancient