Every year, in January, Christians throughout the world pray to regain their unity, a unity willed by Jesus Christ himself (John 17:21). The theme proposed for the week of prayer from 18 to 25 January 2026 is based on St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 4:1-13: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as your vocation has called you to one hope” (Eph 4:4). This year, the prayers and reflections were prepared by the faithful of the Armenian Apostolic Church, together with their brothers and sisters from the Catholic Church and the Armenian Evangelical Churches.
The animation team of the Mother House, in Saint-Brieuc, FRANCE wished to allow the residents of the ‘Jeanne Guernion’ nursing home, the sisters of the communities present on site and surrounding, as well as the parishioners from neighboring communes to live there, this Sunday, January 18, a time of prayer for Christian Unity. The chapel was well filled! Emotion, joy, and surprise were at the rendezvous.
Here is the word to one of the sisters of the community:
«Schedule change at the Mother House! From 4pm, there was animation A time of prayer for the unity of Christians was announced and the chapel welcomed the arrivals: the communities of the Mother House but also people from outside. Surprise to see at the foot of the altar a synthétiseur, a guitar and their musicians! Families, sometimes with very small children, had taken their seats. Sister Anne DONNELLY, Congregation Reference at the Motherhouse, thanked for their presence, Pastor David LORIERO, of the Evangelical Pentecostal Church who came to pray with us from this first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Zahi Paul CHEMALY, diocesan delegate to ecumenism. – The sisters of the EHPAD ‘Jeanne Guernion’ know well one of their nurses, Dalel, and discovered that she is the wife of David LORIERO: which makes her closer to us and opens us up to the difference-. The pastor invited the assembly to pray in respect of the forms that Christian prayer takes. His strong and vibrant voice expressed his faith, beyond the turmoil of our time. He encouraged us, as residents in this EHPAD, to believe in our place, in the importance of our prayer, to beg the Holy Spirit to continue guiding his Church towards unity: Holy Church, bride in becoming for Christ (excerpt from the Credo prayed on this occasion).
We liked: – Hearing a choir of women sing, very taken by the lyrics of their songs and by the sustained rhythm driven by the musicians. This is not our way of praying or singing, but it is good to let ourselves be carried away by the faith of brothers and sisters in search of unity. – Profess our common faith by the Creed adopted by all Christian confessions. – Sing the “Our Father” together… trying to capture the tune and repeated words and adapting to the rhythm.
During the time of silence that we were invited to do so, we were marked by the meditation of the singers and musicians who were facing us: they prayed personally, their eyes closed, without noise, but one saw their lips move in an inner dialogue and sometimes a hand was raised in a gesture of insistent pleading.
This time of prayer was a beautiful opportunity to pray together, each in their own way, to let themselves be moved, to open up to other ways of addressing God. And as Zahi Paul Chemaly, diocesan delegate to ecumenism said so well: “It is not the Daughters of the Holy Spirit who will say otherwise”!
Thank you, brothers and sisters, for the Evangelical Pentecostal Church!
Sister Marie-France CAVALOC, community ‘Jeanne Guernion’. Published on 22/01/2026
