Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Thessalonians 5, 1-11
About times and dates, brothers, there is no need to write to you
for you are well aware in any case that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.
It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that sudden destruction falls on them, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there is no escape.
But you, brothers, do not live in the dark, that the Day should take you unawares like a thief.
No, you are all children of light and children of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness,
so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.
Night is the time for sleepers to sleep and night the time for drunkards to be drunk,
but we belong to the day and we should be sober; let us put on faith and love for a breastplate, and the hope of salvation for a helmet.
God destined us not for his retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us so that, awake or asleep, we should still live united to him.
So give encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do already.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul wants the Thessalonians to be on guard against the itch to know and calculate the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. He will come "like a thief in the night" (5:2). Besides, Jesus himself had warned his disciples: "if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into" (Lk 12:39). The thief, unfortunately, always arrives unexpected. So shall be Christ’s coming. Our only certainty in regard to the last day is that it will come suddenly and unexpectedly. This is why it is necessary to watch "all night." For those who live without giving it a thought, in "peace and security," the day of the Lord will come suddenly and will thrust itself upon them ruinously, like immense labour pains, without possibility of escape. It will happen to many like it happened to that foolish rich man who said to himself: "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry" (Lk 12:16-20). The apostle asks that we be awake and vigilant always, in other words, be "children of the light," "children of the day," as people who live indeed in the light of the Word of God and in the clarity of love. Whoever does not hear the Word dwells "in darkness," and behaves as "one who is sleeping." The daylight person is sober about himself, does not let himself be overwhelmed with his own concerns, and is ready rather for the good fight of the faith in order to defeat evil and have goodness prevail. He therefore knows to put on adequate weaponry. To the Romans, Paul writes, "the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light" (Rom 13:l2). And to the Ephesians, "Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh ... Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day..." (Eph 6:11 ff). The most important weapons are faith, love and hope. They are God’s arms that guarantee victory, indeed already contained in themselves if the believer bears and uses them. The Lord, in fact, has already gathered the faithful in his community, thus guiding their destiny toward salvation. But it is not a destiny which simply falls upon one. Faith is a gift, but it is not given haphazardly, it requires always a personal encounter with Jesus. Salvation is nothing other than remaining in this encounter. This is so that "whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him." (5:10). Heaven is Jesus; fullness of life is also Jesus. Here lies our beatitude.
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
