Vigil of Pentecost Read more
Vigil of Pentecost
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we are not reborn through water and the Spirit,
we cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Colossians 2, 16-23
Then never let anyone criticise you for what you eat or drink, or about observance of annual festivals, New Moons or Sabbaths.
These are only a shadow of what was coming: the reality is the body of Christ.
Do not be cheated of your prize by anyone who chooses to grovel to angels and worship them, pinning every hope on visions received, vainly puffed up by a human way of thinking;
such a person has no connection to the Head, by which the whole body, given all that it needs and held together by its joints and sinews, grows with the growth given by God.
If you have really died with Christ to the principles of this world, why do you still let rules dictate to you, as though you were still living in the world?
-'Do not pick up this, do not eat that, do not touch the other,'
and all about things which perish even while they are being used -- according to merely human commandments and doctrines!
In these rules you can indeed find what seems to be good sense -- the cultivation of the will, and a humility which takes no account of the body; but in fact they have no value against self-indulgence.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
he sent me to bring good news to the poor.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle once again warns the Colossians not to succumb to the allure of the false doctrines that are trying to insinuate themselves into the community, and to distance it from the Gospel it has received. He urges them to not be intimidated by the arrogant judgments pronounced by the false teachers against those who do not follow them. Paul notes several practices of this false “philosophy”, including the observance of ritual regulations probably belonging to the Jewish tradition, and clarifies that those who observe them have not yet accepted the complete sovereignty of Christ over their lives: indeed, Jesus alone is the Saviour (the “reality” that saves). In order to describe this “reality,” he chooses the term “body”, with which he means the Church, the place where salvation is already given by the presence of the Lord. The false teachers probably invited their followers to practice “humility”, that is, submission to the cosmic powers identified with angels. But those who submit to other powers and forces (even their own habits and sense of security) and not to Christ, distance themselves from salvation. Jesus, in fact, is the Head of the Body that is the Church, and he is the one who maintains the unity of its members. Everything that damages the unity of the Body leads to separation from Christ himself. Therefore there is no difference between union with Jesus and union with the community. It is not possible to think we are in communion with the Head if we are not in communion with the Body. The apostle reveals the absurdity of the “philosophy” of these pseudo-teachers. They have all the appearance of wisdom and of an authentic religion, with rituals and mortifications that do not fail to impress, giving it an air of seriousness. But in reality, it detaches its followers from their brothers and sisters and, hence, from Christ. In order to gain salvation, the false teachers impose mortifications of the flesh, which end up “puffing up” the flesh, that is, increasing pride. Their prohibitions and their abstinence have the opposite effect of what they intend: they do not bring about the death of the old self, but the affirmation of their pride. These ritual practices do not open people to listening to the Gospel, but close them in on themselves, trapping them in a form of “boasting” that puffs up their ego and separates them from the community. Paul strips bare the perversity of the “philosophy” of only thinking of ourselves and living for ourselves. Baptism, on the contrary, frees believers from the old self and from all fear, immersing them in the death and resurrection of Christ. All disciples need the Teacher, and it is to Him that they now belong. This is what it means to belong to the community, to the Church: rescued from the powers of this world, the believer is under the influence of the Risen One
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
