Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Ephesians 4, 17-32
So this I say to you and attest to you in the Lord, do not go on living the empty-headed life that the gentiles live.
Intellectually they are in the dark, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is the consequence of closed minds.
Their sense of right and wrong once dulled, they have abandoned all self-control and pursue to excess every kind of uncleanness.
Now that is hardly the way you have learnt Christ,
unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus.
You were to put aside your old self, which belongs to your old way of life and is corrupted by following illusory desires.
Your mind was to be renewed in spirit
so that you could put on the New Man that has been created on God's principles, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth.
So from now on, there must be no more lies. Speak the truth to one another, since we are all parts of one another.
Even if you are angry, do not sin: never let the sun set on your anger
or else you will give the devil a foothold.
Anyone who was a thief must stop stealing; instead he should exert himself at some honest job with his own hands so that he may have something to share with those in need.
No foul word should ever cross your lips; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners;
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal, ready for the day when we shall be set free.
Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you -- as must every kind of malice.
Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul continues to urge the Christians to behave in a manner worthy of the Gospel they have received. He advises them "in the Lord." Most of all, he stresses the importance of not falling back into their past behaviour when, prior to becoming part of the community, the Ephesians were "alienated from the life of God." Such behaviour means to "live in the futility of one’s mind" or, in other words, to remain in the darkness of one’s own convictions without benefiting from the light of God. The result is ignorance and the hardening of the heart. "That is not," says Paul, "the way you learned from Christ!" The expression "to learn from Christ" tells us that Christian life consists in the imitation of Jesus, learning by listening both to the Gospel and to the teaching of the Community. For this reason, Paul adds: "For surely you have heard about him and were taught about him, as truth is in Jesus." Following Jesus calls for a deep change in the disciple’s life: you must "put away your old self," that is, the habits you had when you were far from God, living a life of sadness and failure, in order to "be renewed in the spirit" and "clothe yourself with the new self." If "to be renewed" entails a change of self, "to clothe oneself" with the new man means to welcome Christ in your heart and let yourself be transformed in his image. Paul warns to be aware of a grave behaviour of the old self: lying. He quotes the prophet Zechariah by saying, "Speak the truth to one another" (Zec 8:16) and applies this to the life of the community. We cannot lie "for we are members of one another." Perhaps due to past experience, Paul knows that lying corrupts the relationship with your brothers and sisters and pollutes the life of the community. Similarly, he warns not to linger in anger so that it will not overwhelm you: it must quickly be removed, "in a day’s time," otherwise we give room to the devil. Even larceny divides and corrupts communion. The thief is invited to work with his own hands to earn a living. Paul adds that it is not just a matter of not being a burden but also of working to help those in need. In the community, the criterion of what is good is dictated by the needs of our brothers and sisters. Paul does not neglect to warn against the power of the tongue. In his letter, James has developed this warning in its negative aspect: the tongue can hurt and it is necessary to tame it in the same way that horses are tamed with bridles (Jam 3:1-12). According to Paul, words must be constructive, create communion and "give grace to those who hear." All of this is possible if we let the Spirit of God, which is infused in our hearts, operate. This is why the apostle exhorts not to "grieve the Holy Spirit of God." The new life, which has the Spirit as its source, does not tolerate behaviour dominated by feelings of division and discord. For this reason, once again, Paul exhorts us to reject from one's heart all bitterness, disdain, wrath, shouting, slander, and malice. He exhorts, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you." With these words he unites mercy and forgiveness as two dimensions in one love, God’s.
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
