Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
1 Timothy 6, 3-10
Anyone who teaches anything different and does not keep to the sound teaching which is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine which is in accordance with true religion,
is proud and has no understanding, but rather a weakness for questioning everything and arguing about words. All that can come of this is jealousy, contention, abuse and evil mistrust;
and unending disputes by people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth, and imagine that religion is a way of making a profit.
Religion, of course, does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have.
We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it;
but as long as we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.
People who long to be rich are a prey to trial; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and harmful ambitions which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
'The love of money is the root of all evils' and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
For the third time, the apostle puts Timothy on guard against those who distort the Gospel’s teaching (cf. 1:3-20, 4:1-11). These people separate themselves from the community because they do not follow the "sound words" of the Lord, the only words that are a fountain of salvation, because they free people from sin and death. Those who let their pride prevail will be subjected to them: they will only be able to see themselves. This is the meaning of the blindness about which the apostle is speaking, a blindness that leads to "understanding nothing" and "morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words." This arrogant and vainglorious behaviour is not harmless. It becomes dangerous for the person who suffers from it and for the community. Pride destroys fraternal love, which should be the community’s greatest value. The bitter fruits of pride are "envy, dissensions, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling." The apostle uses particular force to warn that heretics abuse piety and turn it to their personal advantage. The opposite is true for the disciple: "Godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (4:8). A life guided by evangelical "godliness" is a rich reward for the present age and for eternity. But it always needs to be united to meekness and moderation, keeping itself free from all desire for money and contenting itself with what God has given. In order to underline the right way to deal with worldly possessions, Paul recalls a theme already present in the Scriptures: "For we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it." This is an ancient wise saying that tells us neither to scorn worldly possessions nor to exalt them to the point of becoming their slaves. Whoever amasses riches for him or herself should remember what God tells him or her: "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" (Lk 12:20) Paul knows how greed can be poisonous. That is why he does not hesitate to condemn the men and women who are possessed by a greedy desire for wealth and who abandon themselves to it without reservation. This kind of manic desire to amass possessions for oneself is detrimental to those who are its slaves and for others: it leads to the destruction of hearts and lives. Paul is not afraid to say that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Jesus himself was particularly clear and harsh, "No one can serve two masters" (Mt 6:24). Greed cannot be reconciled with Christian piety or with any kind of life worthy of being called human.
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
