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 3, 1-9
You may be quite sure that in the last days there will be some difficult times.
People will be self-centred and avaricious, boastful, arrogant and rude; disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious;
heartless and intractable; they will be slanderers, profligates, savages and enemies of everything that is good;
they will be treacherous and reckless and demented by pride, preferring their own pleasure to God.
They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it. Keep away from people like that.
Of the same kind, too, are those men who insinuate themselves into families in order to get influence over silly women who are obsessed with their sins and follow one craze after another,
always seeking learning, but unable ever to come to knowledge of the truth.
Just as Jannes and Jambres defied Moses, so these men defy the truth, their minds corrupt and their faith spurious.
But they will not be able to go on much longer: their folly, like that of the other two, must become obvious to everybody.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul looks to the last days and writes that there will be a general decline in morals (1 Tim 4:1-5). In a few lines, he outlines a dramatic image of the corruption of men and women when they distance themselves from the Gospel: "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power." This description is not too far off from today. And so the exhortation "Avoid them!" is valid for us too. We do need to separate ourselves from the selfish and violent mentality of this world and distance ourselves from the false teachers who separate us from God and from our brothers and sisters, making us complicit in evil. Perhaps thinking of concrete examples, Paul describes some of the behaviours that destroy each community life. Those who try everything to bend others to themselves separate themselves from the communion. Their fate is the same as that of Jannes and Jambres, two Egyptian magicians (the Old Testament does not mention them, but Paul might have taken them from Jewish tradition) who opposed Moses; but their foolishness was revealed. God himself watches over his house, as Jesus himself promises to his friends, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20). Timothy needs to oppose these people by following Paul’s preaching faithfully. When he heard him speak, he too was converted, and the apostle became his model both in doctrine and behaviour. Paul reminds him of the difficulties and persecutions he endured along his journey, even in Lystra, Timothy’s homeland (Acts 14:6) where he was stoned, dragged out of the city and left for dead (Acts 14:19). Paul maintains that this is actually the fate of all of Jesus’ disciples. It is therefore necessary to remain steadfast. Strength comes from faithfully listening to the Holy Scriptures, which were inspired by God. Consequently, they are the living and pure source of a new wisdom. Paul says so explicitly, the Scriptures are "useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Listening to the Scriptures moulds the believer according to the very thought of God. They were sent to us so that "everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."
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
