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
Acts 6,8-15
Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people.
Then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia.
They found they could not stand up against him because of his wisdom, and the Spirit that prompted what he said.
So they procured some men to say, 'We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.'
Having turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
There they put up false witnesses to say, 'This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law.
We have heard him say that Jesus, this Nazarene, is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.'
The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Stephen was the first of the seven deacons chosen from among the Hellenistic Jews. He immediately brought attention to himself with his strong testimony - he "did great wonders and signs among the people" - Luke says, and in debates no one, "could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke." The fact that his story takes up two full chapters of Acts speaks to how exemplary a figure he was in the first Christian community in Jerusalem. It is peculiar that Stephen not only was active in charity but also in preaching. He shows us that communicating the Gospel and loving the poor are both essential to the life of every believer. There are not the professionals of the Gospel on one side and those of charity on the other. The Gospel is only one and it leads to love personally God and the poor. Stephen’s preaching was supported by signs’ of love that everyone could see and that made his words authoritative and attractive. The very members of Sanhedrin were astounded by the way Stephen lived. The author of Acts does not fail to mention that: "all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel." Stephen’s face reminded people of Moses whose ministry was surrounded by such splendour that the children of Israel could not bear to look at the light shining from his face (Ex 34:29ff). Like Moses, Stephen truly was a witness to God’s love; he was like an angel sent by the Lord, which is what every disciple ought to be. Like his Teacher, Stephen is arrested and judged by the Sanhedrin, and during the trial he is condemned by false accusations. The lives of the disciples always follow the pattern of their Teacher’s. Stephen is sustained during this difficult moment by the strength of the Spirit of the Lord that never abandons anyone, especially in times of trial.
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
