Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Galatians 4, 1-11
What I am saying is this: an heir, during the time while he is still under age, is no different from a slave, even though he is the owner of all the property;
he is under the control of guardians and administrators until the time fixed by his father.
So too with us, as long as we were still under age, we were enslaved to the elemental principles of this world;
but when the completion of the time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law,
to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons.
As you are sons, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son crying, 'Abba, Father';
and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, by God's own act.
But formerly when you did not know God, you were kept in slavery to things which are not really gods at all,
whereas now that you have come to recognise God -- or rather, be recognised by God -- how can you now turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt elements whose slaves you now want to be all over again?
You are keeping special days, and months, and seasons and years-
I am beginning to be afraid that I may, after all, have wasted my efforts on you.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In order to talk about the heir of the promise, Paul chooses an image taken from civil law: the "heir who is a minor." He uses this comparison to describe the guardianship under which both Jews and Gentiles live ("we" he writes). We were all "minors’: the Jews because they were under the guardianship of the law and the gentiles because they were subjected to the "elemental spirits" (the common egocentric way of thinking). It does not matter if, as Paul observes, the "minor" is the legal heir because of the human dignity received from the Creator. Adulthood, that is, the full ownership of the inheritance, only comes with "fullness of time," when God "sent" (the text literally says "sent out") His Son, "born of a woman" and "under the law" (meaning sharing in the historical condition). God sent his Son into the world to free men and women from slavery so that they might receive "adoption as children." Paul addresses the Galatians personally and tells them that their adoption came about when the Spirit of the Son was sent into the heart of every believer. We are pervaded with the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the most intimate part of our being. And the "Spirit of adoption" (Rom 8:14ff) cries from the depths of our hearts, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit is the creative force that makes us capable of this childlike cry of prayer. The invocation "Father" that the Spirit raises from the depths of our hearts attests to the fact that we "are no longer slaves, but children." And whoever is a child is "also an heir." All of this comes "through God" and not from our works or our merits. The awareness of having been freed from the slavery of sin should keep the Galatians from turning back to their old habits and from growing lazy in their personal traditions (symbolized for Paul by the old pagan rites). Reminding them of his apostolic passion and his love for them, Paul calls on the Galatians not to let his work be wasted.
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
