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
John 16, 12-15
I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come.
He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus does not seem to want to stop speaking to his disciples. But the supper is nearing its end and Jesus tells them: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." There is no rebuke in these words. Besides, Jesus chose the disciples personally, and he is well aware of their limitations; indeed he does not hide them. He still thinks that the disciples are not able to bear the full weight of the Gospel. The Gospel certainly does not require wise people, nor is Jesus looking for powerful, strong people to entrust with his mission. Indeed, he seems to be doing just the opposite. His word is not a high doctrine or a complex ideology that only a few are able to understand or deepen. From his teaching flows a simple and strong energy that fills hearts and transforms lives, an energy that everyone can welcome and live out. It is the energy of love. All the disciples are asked to do is to allow this energy to work and not to hold it back, or to put obstacles to it. The Holy Spirit "will guide [us] into all the truth," and help us to see the limits of the perspectives to which we often bind ourselves. The Spirit frees us from our pettiness and places us within a circle of love that leads us to embrace many brothers and sisters, makes us stop beside the poor people that we meet, gives us the words to touch the hearts of those who are looking for friendship and understanding, and helps us defeat a way of life that urges us to set ourselves apart and try to prevail over others. Let ourselves be guided by the Spirit and we will know future things, we will for a different future. The Spirit, the source of life and inspiration, helps us to be craftsmen and women who work with the Lord in creating a future for others and ourselves.
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
