Memory of St. Pancratius, who died a martyr for the love of the Gospel when he was 14 years old. Prayer for younger generations so that they may meet the Gospel and the Lord. Read more
Memory of St. Pancratius, who died a martyr for the love of the Gospel when he was 14 years old. Prayer for younger generations so that they may meet the Gospel and the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Galatians 6, 11-18
Notice what large letters I have used in writing to you with my own hand.
It is those who want to cut a figure by human standards who force circumcision on you, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Even though they are circumcised they still do not keep the Law themselves; they want you to be circumcised only so that they can boast of your outward appearance.
But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is not being circumcised or uncircumcised that matters; but what matters is a new creation.
Peace and mercy to all who follow this as their rule and to the Israel of God.
After this, let no one trouble me; I carry branded on my body the marks of Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, my brothers. Amen.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul, who so far has dictated the letter, is now writing the conclusion "in his own hand," and he is writing in particularly "large letters", as if to emphasize his "large" love for the Galatians. The wicked teachers want to dissuade the Galatians from listening to the Gospel the apostle preached to them, but in doing so they render useless the very cross of Christ. Not only do they not act according to the Spirit, they do so "that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ." In fact, if these wicked teachers were to preach the cross of Christ in its entirety, they would be persecuted by the Jews. The motivation that drives these false teachers is nothing other than cowardly self-interest: they want to boast of having won the Galatians for themselves. They are more interested in their bragging rights than in circumcision. Paul, on the other hand, only wants to boast about "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." What is dishonour and ignominy for his adversaries is boasting and glory for him. Paul justifies his refusal to boast about himself by saying that "the world has been crucified" for the Christian and the Christian is "crucified for the world." On the cross of the Son the Father pronounced the death sentence of the old world of the law and the old man of exterior practices. The cross of Christ not only has an effect on the person that welcomes it in faith, it also has power over the created world because it annihilates the old world and opens a path to a new creation. Christ, the first to be resurrected, begins the new creation. And those who were crucified with Christ in baptism also rise with him (cf. Rom 6:4ff). In Christ they become the men and women of his new creation. "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Cor 5:17). "Christian boasting" consists in being a child of God and enjoying the "peace and mercy" of the new creation. The apostle concludes his letter by asking that no more trouble be given to him in the future and that he not be bothered with useless and dangerous nuisances. His concerns are elsewhere. And he closes by saying, "I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body." Paul not only feels like a slave of Jesus (Gal 1:10), he is also marked by his stigmata to preach the Gospel. The Galatians need to make sure not to oppose the slave of Christ. Nonetheless, the apostle invokes the blessing of Christ over them.
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
