Remembrance of Saint Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon and martyr (202); he went to France from Anatolia to preach the Gospel. Read more
Remembrance of Saint Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon and martyr (202); he went to France from Anatolia to preach the Gospel.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 17,20-26
I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will recognise that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Father, Upright One, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today the Church remembers Saint Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon. Originally from Asia Minor and a disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, who taught him what he had learned from John, he came to Lyon, where he was consecrated bishop after Pothinus was killed. As pastor, he carried out intense missionary activities throughout Gaul, bolstering the orthodox faith and bringing peace to the Christian communities, which were marked by division and controversies. Among other things, he worked to reconcile the Churches of the East and West, divided over the date of the celebration of Easter. For Irenaeus, Christian faith means believing in a good Father who has not abandoned humanity, His creation, but has continued to speak to them and prepare them for the salvation brought by the Son, Jesus. His writings, among the first examples of Christian theology, demonstrate the goodness of creation and of humanity, created in the image and likeness of God. Irenaeus remains an example of a good shepherd, who, following the words of Jesus, sought to take care of the people who had been entrusted to him and bring all who listened to the Gospel into one sheepfold. Jesus’ priestly prayer, which we heard in today’s Gospel passage, is illuminated by his example. Jesus speaks it before going to the Garden of Olives, and it is his “spiritual last will.” After having praised the Father, Jesus looks at those weak and unprepared men: he had entrusted them with the difficult task of continuing his work; he prays for them that they might continue it. Then his thought goes further and widens to encompass all those who will believe in the Gospel in every age. The walls of the upper room seem to fall and a great multitude of men and women from every part of the earth appears before Jesus’ eyes, searching for peace and consolation. Jesus prays for this great people and asks the Father that they may become completely one.” He knows that the spirit of division would try to destroy them. So he asks the impossible: that they all share the same unity that exists between him and the Father.
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
