Memorial of Saint Augustine of Canterbury (605 ca.), bishop, father of the English church. Read more
Memorial of Saint Augustine of Canterbury (605 ca.), bishop, father of the English church.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 16,23-28
When that day comes, you will not ask me any questions. In all truth I tell you, anything you ask from the Father he will grant in my name. Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete. I have been telling you these things in veiled language. The hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language but tell you about the Father in plain words. When that day comes you will ask in my name; and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you, because the Father himself loves you for loving me, and believing that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world and now I am leaving the world to go to the Father.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Over the past few days, the evangelist John has shown us the circle of love that unites the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and also envelops the disciples. The fruit of this love that becomes larger is joy. The disciples can rejoice because they are no longer left alone and abandoned to the destiny of sin and death. Communion with Jesus determines the new condition of the disciples, their being children of God. Therefore believers can ask the Father for anything and He will give it to them. This certainty is the reason for their “complete” joy. Jesus tells the Twelve: “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.” Here, Jesus is referring to the fact that the disciples are not yet united to him in the communion of his Spirit. Their faith was still immature; they were thinking about Jesus in human terms, according to the world’s categories. If we want to understand the Teacher and be united to him, we have to welcome his very Spirit into our hearts. The disciples will receive the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit will accompany them all the days of their lives. We, too, receive the Spirit, in the sacramental signs as well as every time the Word is announced to us. Thus, the eyes of our hearts are opened and we understand the great mystery of love that surrounds us, just as the disciples of that time experienced. A little while before Jesus had told them: “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:25-26). Communion with Jesus is not the fruit of abstract and exterior knowledge; it is above all a communion made up of love and a trusting reliance on Jesus. Overcome by this love, the apostle Paul said: “For to me, living is Christ” (Phil 1:21). Communion with Jesus helps us understand the following words: “On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” Jesus tells the disciples, and us, that he came to earth to be one with his disciples in order to bring them to the heart of the Father. He is about to pass from this world to the Father. And when he returns to heaven he will no longer be alone, as he was when he descended; he will be accompanied by the disciples of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, whom he acquired with his blood. Let us give thanks to the Lord for his love that envelops us and saves us.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
