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
Titus 2, 1-10
It is for you, then, to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine.
Older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and perseverance.
Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine -- they must be the teachers of right behaviour
and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children,
how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced.
Similarly, urge younger men to be moderate in everything that they do,
and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable
so that any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us.
Slaves must be obedient to their masters in everything, and do what is wanted without argument;
and there must be no pilfering -- they must show complete honesty at all times, so that they are in every way a credit to the teaching of God our Saviour.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle urges Titus to preach by drawing on "sound doctrine." It is to this alone that he should be faithful, and this is what he has to transmit without adding anything or taking anything away. It is not an abstract theory, but a source that generates new behaviours. Every believer, according to his or her condition, has to translate what he or she has learned into his or her daily life. The apostle first speaks to the elderly: in them should shine forth faith, love, and patience. Elderly women are invited to demonstrate the faith of mature disciples through their behaviour. They need, therefore, to tame their tongues and avoid grumbling. And he invites them to feel the responsibility of using their lives to be true teachers of good works to young wives. Paul writes that these young wives should be exemplary spouses and mothers: their love for their husbands and children should be an important choice in their lives. These qualities, which are not exclusively Christian, are made even richer and stronger by faith. A Christian woman who lives out the Gospel will never offer the opportunity for others to despise Christ’s doctrine nor will she give her pagan husband a reason to judge Christianity negatively. The apostle affirms, on the contrary, that her evangelical behaviour could provide a good opportunity for men "who do not obey the word, [to] be won over without a word by their wives’ conduct" (1 Pt 3:1). His exhortation to young men is brief: from them, Paul demands wisdom and self-discipline. In truth, every member of the community needs to act in an exemplary way so that the Gospel may shine in him or her. This is why the apostle addresses Titus directly and underlines that his example is more effective than any word: his life and preaching need to be so luminous that all enemies - whether inside or outside of the community - will fall silent. He also has some words for Christian slaves, who are often forced to live and work in pagan houses and therefore in idolatrous environments. Despite their humble and difficult condition, they too need to testify to the beauty and strength of Christianity. Paul writes that through their obedience, goodness, faithfulness, and honesty, even towards a pagan master, they bestow honour to the Christian faith.
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
