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
Galatians 4,22-24.26-27.31-5,1
Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the freewoman. The son of the slave girl came to be born in the way of human nature; but the son of the freewoman came to be born through a promise. There is an allegory here: these women stand for the two covenants. The one given on Mount Sinai -- that is Hagar, whose children are born into slavery; But the Jerusalem above is free, and that is the one that is our mother; as scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren woman who has borne no children! Break into shouts of joy, you who were never in labour. For the sons of the forsaken one are more in number than the sons of the wedded wife. So, brothers, we are the children not of the slave girl but of the freewoman. Christ set us free, so that we should remain free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be fastened again to the yoke of slavery.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In order to convince the Galatians not to fall back into slavery to the law, Paul takes up the story of the Book of Genesis about the "two sons of Abraham": Ishmael, son of the slave Hagar, the concubine, and Isaac, the son of the free Sarah, mistress and legitimate wife. The difference between the two sons is not that they have two different mothers, rather that they have been generated in a different way: Ishmael was born according to the natural way of generation; Isaac, instead, "through the promise." So Paul states that all this happened in allegory’ of what actually would happen in the future. Hagar, the slave, represents the Sinai covenant that "bears children to [the] slavery" to the law (which reminds Arabia to Paul). Sarah, however, represents the free woman, and she is "our mother" located in the "Jerusalem above." From this second Jerusalem Christians receive freedom. Therefore, as sons and daughters of the free woman, we are called to live free from the law. This - says Paul - is what Isaiah, the prophet of the exile, already sang: the barren woman shouts of joy because a numberless progeny is granted to her. Sarah, barren and despised, has become, through the intervention of God, the mother of a great people. Paul reminds the Galatians that they are "children of promise" as Isaac was, and thus they are not to look back at their condition as slaves. Unfortunately what happened between Ishmael and Isaac, that the children of the earthly Jerusalem persecute those of "the Jerusalem above," can be repeated. But this shows that the free children are the heirs of the promise, in spite of present difficulties. Christians must keep this exhortation in their heart knowing that the present difficulties should not distract our eyes from the heavenly Jerusalem towards which we are headed.
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
