{"id":382456,"date":"2025-06-09T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/reborn-from-the-darkness-a-call-to-unity\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T16:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:45:24","slug":"reborn-from-the-darkness-a-call-to-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/reborn-from-the-darkness-a-call-to-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Reborn from the Darkness: A Call to Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I come from a divided family background; I was born from an extramarital relationship of my father. Because of this, he kept my existence a secret, and for a long time\u2014especially as a child\u2014I experienced his temporary absence. <\/p>\n\n

I felt there was something dark or hidden in my story. What I didn\u2019t know was that Jesus would begin a process of radical conversion in my father\u2019s life, one that would lead him to become a Pentecostal pastor. <\/p>\n\n

My story and the sense of abandonment could very well have been reasons to turn away from faith. However, that is not what happened. Faced with the experience of abandonment, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder about the kind of love that, even amid a child\u2019s pain, had reached my father\u2019s life. I often asked myself, \u201cWhat kind of love is this, capable of piercing through the pain I\u2019m feeling?\u201d At age 16, during a high school graduation cruise, I encountered that love. One evening, sitting at the top of the ship, I clearly heard the Lord\u2019s voice speak to my heart: \u201cYou weren\u2019t born to do what your friends are doing, Mayara, you are mine.\u201d Thanks to what began that night, I became a committed Pentecostal. <\/p>\n\n

At the age of 19, I enrolled in the Pontifical Catholic University of S\u00e3o Paulo (Brazil) to study theology. In a story that only the Holy Spirit could write, I became President of the Academic Centre and of the Student Theology Commission for the state of S\u00e3o Paulo. I became good friends with some seminarians, had contact with various dioceses and religious orders and several priests often visited my home. At first, my mother joked, \u201cI never imagined I\u2019d have so many priests in my house, Mayara.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

Through that experience, I decided to write my final thesis on Christian unity. But as I began to explore what path to take, many things happened that led me to reflect on my family history. I went through a deep process of forgiveness and reconciliation. And so, as I forgave, I wrote. I always remembered how painful it can be to come from a divided family. But it was precisely in those moments that the Lord also asked me: \u201cAnd my family, the Church?\u201d I felt I could and indeed had to, join my experience of abandonment to that of Jesus. <\/p>\n\n

\n

\n “I decided to write my final thesis on Christian unity (…) and many things happened that led me to reflect on my family history. I went through a deep process of forgiveness and reconciliation.”.<\/em>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the photo: Mayara during the Ecumenical Congress<\/a><\/em>\n in Castel Gandolfo in March 2025<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
<\/div>\n\n

Drawing from the shared heritage of Sacred Scripture, I concluded that painful period with a thesis entitled: \u201cThe Spirit and the Bride Say: Come! The Figure of the Bride as a Prophetic Response to the Unity of the Church\u201d. It was this step led me into Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue: with the Commission for Unity of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal-SP and the \u201cWe Are One\u201d mission<\/em>. Founded by laypeople within a Catholic community (Cora\u00e7\u00e3o Novo\u2013RJ), the We Are One Mission<\/em> is based on a letter of intent signed by Catholic and Evangelical leaders that outlines four pillars for dialogue: respect for confessional identities<\/strong>, ecclesiality<\/strong>, non-proselytism<\/strong> and a culture of encounter<\/strong>. The city of Rio de Janeiro even officially recognizes a \u201cWe Are One Week\u201d<\/em> which has surprisingly been declared part of the city\u2019s intangible cultural heritage.In practice, the Mission brings together Evangelical, Catholic and Pentecostal leaders with a common purpose: to proclaim the unity of Christians. Theological dialogue was made possible by the creation of a national Catholic-Pentecostal working group (WG). Its aim is to reflect theologically and pastorally on the charismatic-pentecostal experience, starting from the Latin American context. We recently published our first report, the result of our meetings, on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 2022, the We Are One Youth Mission<\/g> began, a group in which I am wholeheartedly and actively involved. For these reasons, I see the We Are One <\/g>Mission <\/g>as a sign of hope. First, for all the communion I\u2019ve experienced and secondly, because my personal story is undoubtedly intertwined with it. <\/p>\n\n

Entrusted with the role of being \u201cpilgrims of hope,\u201d I would like to conclude with a phrase my father often repeats when telling the story of our family. He says, countless times, that our story was born in pain and wounds but was bathed in God\u2019s infinite love: \u201cTribulation became vocation.\u201d When my father glimpses this reality, he always quotes St. Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans: \u201cWhere sin increased, grace abounded all the more\u201d (Romans <\/em>5:20). Paraphrasing this biblical text, during this 2025Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in the year of the Jubilee and the celebration of many significant anniversaries such as the Council of Nicaea, I am encouraged and led to believe that: amidst so many deep wounds throughout the Church\u2019s history, God is surely making His hope abound. <\/p>\n\n

Mayara Pazetto<\/em>\n Photo: \u00a9 CSC Audivisivi<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the days of the Pentecost celebration, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed in countries of the Southern Hemisphere. Mayara Pazetto, a young Brazilian Pentecostal theologian, shares the story that led her to commit to and promote dialogue among the Christian Churches. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":382370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3195,3286],"tags":[2848,4117,3455,3349,3196,3819],"class_list":["post-382456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecumenism","category-testimonianze-di-vita-en","tag-brasile-2","tag-di2-en","tag-ecumenical-dialogue","tag-notifiche-en","tag-ppg-en","tag-testimonianza-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382456"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388970,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382456\/revisions\/388970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}