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
2 Thessalonians 3, 1-5
Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord's message may spread quickly, and be received with honour as it was among you;
and pray that we may be preserved from bigoted and evil people, for not everyone has faith.
You can rely on the Lord, who will give you strength and guard you from the evil One,
and we, in the Lord, have every confidence in you, that you are doing and will go on doing all that we tell you.
May the Lord turn your hearts towards the love of God and the perseverance of Christ.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul asks that the Thessalonians pray for him with a specific intention: "so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere." Paul wishes that the Gospel may continue to traverse the paths of the world without being hindered, much less blocked. For this, common prayer is necessary. It is the Lord, indeed, who continues to guide his Church. And through common prayer the whole community participates in the apostolic mission which Jesus entrusted to his disciples. The Word is not from the Apostles, but is that of Jesus himself, who speaks through them. Rather than being in possession of the Word, it is the disciples who are possessed by it. They may even be persecuted and imprisoned, but the Word must continue its course. And Paul is witness to this: "for which (for the Lord) I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained" (2 Tim 2:9). Great are the tasks which await him: all Europe lies before him. The Word of God must continue its race. The Word spreads like a blaze throughout the earth in order to reach human hearts and transform them. Whoever receives it becomes Jesus’ disciple. The apostle well knows that the proclamation meets with rejection on the part of those who won’t receive it. "Not all have faith", says Paul. Love indeed cannot be imposed. Preaching is always a request for love directed at each person. Everyone is invited to open up to the love of God and to respond in kind, knowing, anyhow, that if people are unfaithful, God, on the other hand, "is faithful" always. Upon those who hear, he puts out his strong hand so that they may be saved from evil: "He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one." The love of God is our security and our strength.
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
