Memorial of the dedication of the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran. Prayer for the Church of Rome. Memorial of the "Crystal Night," the beginning of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Read more
Memorial of the dedication of the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran. Prayer for the Church of Rome. Memorial of the "Crystal Night," the beginning of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Titus 3,1-7
Remind them to be obedient to the officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity; not to go slandering other people but to be peaceable and gentle, and always polite to people of all kinds. There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Titus needs to remind Christians that they owe obedience and submission to the authorities, even if they are pagan, for they know as Paul wrote clearly in the Letter to the Romans - that all authority comes from God. In addition he invites them to be indulgently patient in facing accusation and lies, scorn and resentments they suffer at the hand of pagans. Paul asks Titus to exhort his faithful "to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone." All Christians should keep these words in their heart because not too long ago, Christians were no different from the pagans, behaving in a "foolish" way, lacking an orientation for their lives as slaves of sin. We should never forget the sad condition in which we lived and from which we have been freed by grace, that is "when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy" (vv. 4-5). If the believer accepts God’s love with faith and trusts Jesus, he or she is saved from ruin by the "water of rebirth." Christians are generated by God (see Jn 1:12ff). Related to this "water of rebirth" is the "renewal by the Holy Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour." Rebirth means the radical change that God works in the believer’s life. We all owe a debt of love to God because of what has happened within us. This is the source of the apostle’s rebuke, which he already addressed to the Christians in Corinth: "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" (1 Cor 4:7). Along with rebirth to a new life, we also receive another great gift, that of inheriting "eternal life." Paul writes to the Galatians that "through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" we have received "adoption as children . and God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!’ and if we are children we are also heirs through God" (Gal 4:5-7).
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
