One of the unique features of the Psalter of Our Lord is its potential to contribute to the cause of Christian unity. This is very important because division is the biggest problem for Christianity around the world today. It is impossible for world peace to exist if Christianity, which is the foundation for true peace, is divided so badly. There will never be world peace, without Christian unity.

One of the reasons why the Psalter of Our Lord has the potential to help building Christian unity is because basically this simple prayer can be practiced by all Christians, regardless of their denominations or communities. Apart from that, the Psalter of Our Lord is also formed from a combination of the prayer traditions of two different Christians, so this simple prayer can also be a symbol of unity and at the same time an effective means of building the spirit of unity from Christianity which is currently being heavily divided.


Psalter of Our Lord For Catholics

For Catholics, besides this prayer having a pattern similar to the Rosary that they are familiar with, this simple prayer grew for the first time among Catholic youth groups. Apart from that, the Psalter of Our Lord also come entirely from the spiritual heritage of the Catholic Church, even though they come from two different traditions (Eastern and Western). So there are no obstacles whatsoever to practice it.

What must be noted, although at first glance it may seem that the Psalter of Our Lord is a combination of Catholic and Orthodox prayer traditions, in fact this prayer is far from the spirit of syncretism or erroneous compromising ecumenism. The Jesus Prayer, which became the forerunner of the Psalms of Jesus, is indeed widely practiced by Orthodox people, but this prayer has actually existed since the third century, when at that time there was only one Church in the whole world, namely the Catholic Church. Thus the Jesus Prayer is actually also the spiritual heritage of the Catholic Church. Therefore it can be said that the Psalter of Our Lord, which are a synthesis of the Rosary and the Jesus Prayer, are entirely derived from the tradition of Catholic prayers without being contaminated by external elements.


Psalter of Our Lord For Orthodox

For Orthodox people, the Psalter of Our Lord or Psalter of Jesus is very similar to the Jesus Prayer they have known for centuries, so they can easily accept and practice it. In addition, the Jesus Prayer in its simple form has been known since the third century, long before the Orthodox Church emerged in the 11th century. In other words, the Jesus Prayer emerged from the tradition of one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

But the tragedy of the split between the Eastern and Western Churches has given rise to the mistaken impression that the Jesus Prayer is an Orthodox Church tradition completely separate from that of the Catholic Church. So through the Psalter of Jesus which is the development of the Jesus Prayer and at the same time the result of synthesis with the Rosary, an opportunity is widely opened to reunite Orthodox people with their Catholic brothers and sisters who have been separated for centuries.


Psalter of Our Lord For Protestants

For Protestants, the Jesus Prayer, the Rosary, the Psalter of Our Lord or other repetitive prayers are still foreign. They don't know that kind of prayer tradition. Even some Protestants deliberately reject this form of repetitive prayer because, in their mistaken assumption, the Bible forbids repeated prayers. Usually this rejection refers to the wrong interpretation of the Gospel verse Mat.6:7 regarding the prohibition of long-winded prayers.

Actually, this kind of objection need not occur if they realize that repeated prayers are not the same as long-winded prayers. Even Our Lord Jesus Himself also said a prayer repeatedly like He did in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mrk.14:39, Mat.24:44). Thus it is impossible for the Bible to prohibit this form of repeated prayer.

Likewise the two main prayers of the Psalter of Our Lord are based entirely on Bible verses. The prayer "Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" refers to the parable of the publican's prayer (Luke 18:13) and also the cry of the blind (Luke 18:38). While the prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, I love Thee" was taken from Peter's answer to Our Lord's question three times in a row (John 21:15-17). The biblical basis that often becomes their main consideration has been fulfilled. Thus there is actually no significant obstacle for Protestants to learn and practice this prayer.


Prayer That Brings Unity

One of the famous Latin expressions, lex orandi lex credendi which roughly means "the way we pray reflects the law of our faith" shows the very close relationship between the way we pray and the faith expressed. The sentence which comes from St. Prosper of Aquitaine (one of the disciples of St. Augustine of Hippo) is often used to show how the same Apostles' faith is expressed in the same liturgical substance of the Holy Mass from time to time.

But this expression can also mean the opposite, namely the use of the same prayer can bring people to the same understanding of faith. It is in this context that the Psalter of Our Lord, which can be practiced by all Christian groups, can be a means of building a spirit of Christian unity. It is not just a spirit of unity in diversity as meant in the false ecumenism movement, but it is also open to being united in the one and the same faith as God wills.

When we talk about efforts to Christian unity, generally what comes to mind is the ecumenism movement in which all Christian groups come together and have dialogue on an equal footing to build unity in the midst of all the differences that cannot be united. Such a union will only produce false ecumenical Christian unity outside the Church of Christ. This is pseudo Christian unity and contrary to God's will.

God only establishes His Church once and for all. And His Church is marked by the characteristics of the ONE and SAME faith under the leadership of Peter who is His Vicar. Then the Christian unity that He wants is the return of all separated Christians to enter into His Church while leaving everything that previously separated them. The problem is, for centuries, efforts to unite like this, which have been carried out at the institutional level, have not been successful.

But that does not mean that such unity will not be realized so that we are all forced to strive for unity through false ecumenism, as was wrongly done by the Second Vatican Council.

There is a hope that the unity that God wills can be realized, but not starting at the institutional level as has failed for centuries. We must have the courage to try other ways, namely by building the spirit of unity at the grassroots level. The way is, starting from building a spirit of true unity among Christians of all groups. We can all participate in building it through prayer, one of which is through the Psalter of Our Lord which can be practiced by all Christians both in community and individually.

Lex orandi lex credendi, hopefully through the same prayer all Christians will eventually unite in the same faith, namely the faith of the Apostles. If the spirit of unity has been awakened at the grassroots level, then unity at the institutional level will be the logical consequence.

We hope that this simple prayer, which is the result of a synthesis of the prayers of two different Christian traditions, will not only add to the wealth of spiritual treasures that Christianity has, but also play a role in building the spirit of Christian unity as Our Lord wills: ut omnes unum sint (" ...may they all be one...," John 17:21).