Vigilia di Pentecoste Read more
Vigilia di Pentecoste
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 21,20-25
Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them -- the one who had leant back close to his chest at the supper and had said to him, 'Lord, who is it that will betray you?'
Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'What about him, Lord?'
Jesus answered, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.'
The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, 'He will not die,' but, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come.'
This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.
There was much else that Jesus did; if it were written down in detail, I do not suppose the world itself would hold all the books that would be written.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Oggi termina la lettura continuata del Vangelo di Giovanni che ci ha accompagnato in questo tempo di Pasqua. Ed è la pagina conclusiva del quarto Vangelo. L’evangelista ha appena notato che Pietro ha ripreso a seguire Gesù sulle rive del lago di Galilea. È un nuovo inizio per lui. Ed è basato su un amore più cosciente e solido. Pietro ha sperimentato l’amarezza del tradimento e l’ambiguità dell’orgoglio. Ora comprende meglio l’amore che Gesù ha per lui. Nonostante lo abbia tradito, Gesù lo riaccoglie nella sua sequela, ma questa volta aggiunge che il suo futuro sarà segnato da asprezze e difficoltà. Questa volta Pietro non oppone difficoltà, non si tira indietro e neppure si lascia trascinare da uno stolto orgoglio. Solo si guarda dietro e vede Giovanni. Chiede quindi a Gesù forse per un istinto di compagnia o anche di curiosità se anche a Giovanni accadrà la stessa cosa. Gesù non risponde direttamente alla domanda di Pietro e gli dice che quel che conta è seguirlo. Solo nella sua sequela del Vangelo matura la vera preoccupazione per gli altri. Quante volte ci lasciamo travolgere dalla curiosità e dall’invidia tralasciando la vera preoccupazione degli altri che richiede amore e compassione grande. Solo stando accanto a Gesù e nutrendosi della sua parola possiamo crescere nell’amore appassionato per gli altri. Lo stesso Giovanni ha forse corretto la diceria che si era diffusa che non sarebbe morto. E poi aggiunge un nuovo epilogo al suo Vangelo: "Vi sono ancora molte altre cose compiute da Gesù, che, se fossero scritte una per una, penso che il mondo stesso non basterebbe a contenere i libri che si dovrebbero scrivere". Potremmo commentare queste ultime parole dicendo che il Vangelo attende di essere scritto da noi con la nostra vita e la nostra testimonianza di amore. Sì, anche a noi, come a Pietro, Gesù ripete: "Tu, seguimi!".
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
