Whenever I am asked why I chose to make a commitment to the Sword of the Spirit, I say that one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, is its ecumenical dimension. Being in community with Christians from other churches has been extremely valuable to me in my growth as a disciple, not […]

John 15: 11 “So that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete” Jesus never does things in half-measures. When it comes to joy he wants our joy to be complete. Nothing missing.  Our verse reads, “that your joy may be complete”.  Sometimes it’s translated “that your joy may be full.”  This reminds me of the […]

Before I encountered the community in Ann Arbor, Michigan while I was studying, I was really only living a nominal Catholic life, and going to Mass on Sunday was my only Christian activity. The experience with the community completely changed my life, and gave me a renewed faith, and desire to share it with others.   […]

John 15: 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” The metaphor of the vine and the branches says to us that we have to stay connected (“abide”) to the […]

Over this past year, we have discovered great joy in living and serving together as Bethany sisters from two different Christian traditions and cultures, but who share the call to live single for the Lord and the call to Christian unity. Growing up a charismatic Christian from a Lutheran missionary background, I, Christiane, always experienced […]

John 15: 16b “Go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” Jesus the vine, calls us, the branches, to bear fruit, fruit that will last.  If we are connected to Him, and stay connected, then we will receive God’s life-giving sap, the Holy Spirit, and we will bear fruit.  There are many different aspects of that fruit.  However, […]

In his classic book “Orthodoxy”, G.K. Chesterton draws up the delightful sketch of an English yachtsman who, after a miscalculation, makes landfall on the English coast, believing it to be some uncharted island in the Southern sea. Filled with all the enthusiasm of an age of exploration, he strives to examine the wild inhabitants and their barbaric […]

Jesus calls us to love God and our neighbor.  In my Christian journey I have always found it easy to love those who are like me, whether it be it in personality or things we have in common. I find it more challenging to love those who are different from me. Ecumenism in community presents an […]

John 15: 1-3 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you.” In today’s […]

I am a Catholic Christian who belongs to Árbol de Vida, an ecumenical community in San José, Costa Rica. Since its beginning as a small group of Evangelical and Catholic university students, Árbol de Vida has for 43 years maintained both its interchurch membership, as well as its commitment to ecumenism in the Sword of […]