Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Thessalonians 1,1-5.8-10
Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonica which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. We always thank God for you all, mentioning you in our prayers continually. We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus Christ. We know, brothers loved by God, that you have been chosen, because our gospel came to you not only in words, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with great effect. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your sake. since it was from you that the word of the Lord rang out -- and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other people about it: other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with the worship of false gods when you were converted to God and became servants of the living and true God; and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven. It is he who saves us from the Retribution which is coming.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It is a letter written together by Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, as if to remember what the Lord had done with the apostles (Mk 6:7) and the disciples (Lk 10:1) sending them two by two. Moreover, Paul was not an isolated protagonist. The Church is above all communion. All three together turn to the small community of Thessalonica, a large community not by number but by the dignity of being founded "in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ." This dignity made that small community a blessing for Thessalonica. It was the "ekklesia", or the "assembly" of the community convened by God in that city. Every Christian community is a holy "assembly of God." Paul thanks the Lord for that small community that lives with steadfast faith, active love and constant hope. The Lord himself, through the preaching of his disciples, changes the heart of the listeners, and generates them to a new life. The apostle knows that the service of preaching requires his personal involvement because only in this way he makes the Lord close and recognizable to those who listen to him. And this is why the Thessalonians were able to imitate him, thus approaching Christ himself. The life of the leaders of the community must reflect the Gospel they proclaim; so their preaching will be effective. The Thessalonians were able to welcome it with joy even in the midst of persecutions. And they became an example for other believers who were in Macedonia and Achaia. Gospel life spreads because it attracts, because it shows a better life than that the world offers. It is the first Christian community founded on European territory, and immediately enthusiasm aroused everywhere in the young communities of that area. The expansion of the Gospel is not tied to pastoral techniques or sophisticated organizational means. The Gospel spreads only through the attractive force of a truly evangelical life. Paul rejoices in their faith and reports the amazement of all in learning their response of conversion as they abandoned the idols of this world to serve only the Lord.
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
