Memory of St. John, apostle and evangelist, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and took Mary, with him as his mother.
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Memory of St. John, apostle and evangelist, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and took Mary, with him as his mother.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 20,2-8
and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,' she said, 'and we don't know where they have put him.' So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John is among the first four disciples called by Jesus. Together with his brother James, John was mending his nets in th eboat when the Lord passed and called him. Since then he became Jesus’ disciple. According to the tradition, he is known as the disciple "whom Jesus loved". It was John who had placed his head upon Jesus’ breast during the Last Supper and who, along with Peter and James, accompanied him on the night of his agony in the garden at Gethsemane. Although John ultimately returned to the cross where he accepted Jesus’ invitation to receive Mary as his mother, he fled and abandoned Jesus just like all the other disciples. In today’s Gospel we see John running with Peter toward Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning. Being younger than Peter, John arrived at the tomb first, saw the shrouds on the ground, but did not enter. He waited for Peter. The Church Fathers comment that love runs faster and arrives first. John, however, knows to wait for the other brother before entering in together. As soon as he entered, he "saw and believed," the evangelist notes. He realized that Jesus’ body had not been stolen (for he saw the linen wrappings lying there). And he believed. His testimony, recorded in the fourth Gospel and in the Letters, is entirely centered upon the proclamation to love God and one another, which was understood as the heart of his Teacher’s message. It is told that John, advanced in years, would be carried on a chair into the assembly of Christians and would always repeat the commandment to love. And to the question why he continued to repeat it, he responded: "Because it is the commandment of the Lord! If you put it into practice, then it is enough."
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
