Lessons to learn from one another

I just read a great article called What Can Orthodox and Catholics Teach Each Another?
I HIGHLY recommend reading the whole thing for yourself, but I'll include some excerpts to throw out some food for thought for those who choose not to read it, with my comments in green.

" ...The temptation to bury one’s head in the sand (Eastern Orthodoxy) hiding your light under a bushel or to mimic successful Evangelical methods and worship styles (Roman Catholicism) like trading gold for salt is as great as it is destructive...

The rift between East and West was already extreme by the ninth century and reached its apex with Vatican I. a reference to Papal Infallibility no doubt But this apex was also marked by a growing sense that the theological and liturgical path of Roman Catholicism had reached some kind of a dead-end. Vatican II was an attempt to engineer a conciliar return to the sources that would reinterpret the Roman Catholic legacy of the past thousand years for the next millennium. Jean Danielou and Yves Congar – both Early Church scholars – were very influential at the council, but their vision was only partially achieved...

The message of the Eastern Orthodox world to Roman Catholicism (and all other Christians) is often reduced to ‘leave us alone, we’d like to pretend you don’t exist.’ This fortress mentality is also a subconscious admission that ‘the God-protected city’ is in fact a weak and easy prey. The temptation to curl away from the world leads to nationalism and a failure to embrace the catholic-universal vocation of the Church. As a result, Orthodox Christians see themselves as Russian, Serbian or Greek Orthodox members of a national Church a tendency which the Communists used to divide and try to conquer whose head is located in a political capital...

If we confess Cyprian, Basil, Leo and Martin as saints and members of the same Body, what we also confess is that in spite of our earthly differences, heaven is filled with both ‘Roman Catholic’ and ‘Eastern Orthodox’ saints. In order to achieve visible and authentic unity, there must first be a desire to embrace what is best on the other side, and to find room for legitimate differences of expression... "

That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. John 17:21
Ut unum sint!

May God bless all who read my ramblings,

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