Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 6,44-51
'No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.
It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God; everyone who has listened to the Father, and learnt from him, comes to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father, except him who has his being from God: he has seen the Father.
In all truth I tell you, everyone who believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead;
but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel continues to show us Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. At the beginning of the passage, Jesus clarifies that no one can comprehend his mystery without having faith, which the Father himself gives. He reveals the secret of the Christian life: faith is not the fruit of human effort, in striving to practice a virtuous life, but rather in allowing ourselves to be drawn by God: "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me." The attraction about which Jesus speaks is not simply an intellectual question, but a question of the heart, of passion, of conviction. Faith, in a word, is a question of complete love; therefore, it is of the mind and heart. Certainly, this happens uniquely by willingly listening to the Word of God. In the Lord’s words, there is an attractive force that permits us to overcome every obstacle and difficulty because the beauty of life with Him dims any sense of renunciation or sacrifice. Jesus says: "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me"; that is, one discovers life’s true meaning and receives sustaining nourishment with which one will never waiver or feel weakened. It is truly difficult to think that God himself can manifest himself through the weakness of the Gospel’s words, that his love can be received through his children’s love. It may seem more natural to look elsewhere for nourishment for our life, perhaps in certainties apparently more solid and in feelings that may guarantee us our happiness and security. In reality, it is all an illusion. We all know the limitations and weaknesses of human things. It is much better to trust in a God who chose the words of a man to make manifest his Word, who chose weak sacramental signs through which to give us strength. There is no need for superhuman strength in order to understand this. Whoever wants to know God should know the Son. Whoever wants to understand God’s mystery should read the Gospel. And whoever listens to these words will be drawn to God and receive the living bread: "I am the living bread...Whoever eats of this bread will live forever." We live this mystery every time we participate in the Mass, where we receive the gift of the bread of the Word and the gift of its Body.
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
