Monday of the Angel.
Memory of Mary of Clopas who stood near the cross of the Lord with the other women. Prayer for all women in every part of the world who follow the Lord in difficulties and with courage.
We remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was killed by the Nazis in the concentration camp of Flossenbürg.
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Monday of the Angel.
Memory of Mary of Clopas who stood near the cross of the Lord with the other women. Prayer for all women in every part of the world who follow the Lord in difficulties and with courage.
We remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was killed by the Nazis in the concentration camp of Flossenbürg.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Timothy 1, 1-5
From Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God in accordance with his promise of life in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, dear son of mine. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
Night and day I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my ancestors did. I remember you in my prayers constantly night and day;
I remember your tears and long to see you again to complete my joy.
I also remember your sincere faith, a faith which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure dwells also in you.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul begins the Second Letter to Timothy by mentioning the authority of being an "apostle of Jesus Christ" that was conferred on him by "the will of God." In doing so, he is trying to remind Timothy, and the whole community to which the letter is addressed, that behind him there is Jesus himself. It is from Jesus, in fact, that Paul received the mission to proclaim God’s "promise of life" to all men and women. Paul knows that he is on the eve of his death (4:6-8), but he still writes to Timothy, who has been his "beloved child" and close collaborator for many years. Strong feelings tie him to the young disciple. We could say that Timothy’s identity lies in his relationship with the apostle Paul. Paul immediately follows his greeting by giving thanks to God, whom he knows is present in his personal story. After his first arrest in Jerusalem, Paul looked back over his earlier life: "Up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God" (Acts 23:1). And now he continues to serve God with a clear conscience even though he is in prison. In his prayers Paul reminds to God his communities and his collaborators; chains do not stop his communion with his brothers and sisters. He vividly remembers Timothy and his painful parting from him, which probably took place when Paul left for Rome. Even though he is in prison, Paul still writes that he wants to see Timothy again; the meeting would fill his soul with joy and comfort. He reminds him of this desire again at the end of the letter when he writes, "Do your best to come to me soon" (4:9.21). The consolation that the apostle can already feel comes from Timothy’s faithfulness to the Gospel, a faithfulness that is deeply rooted in his very religious family, beginning with his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. This letter, which can almost be considered Paul’s spiritual will, is full of the apostle’s affection for Timothy and his pastoral passion for the community entrusted to him.
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
