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
1 Peter 2, 4-10
He is the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him
so that you, too, may be living stones making a spiritual house as a holy priesthood to offer the spiritual sacrifices made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
As scripture says: Now I am laying a stone in Zion, a chosen, precious cornerstone and no one who relies on this will be brought to disgrace.
To you believers it brings honour. But for unbelievers, it is rather a stone which the builders rejected that became a cornerstone,
a stumbling stone, a rock to trip people up. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the Word; it was the fate in store for them.
But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were a non-people and now you are the People of God; once you were outside his pity; now you have received pity.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
With this sixth exhortation, the apostle invites the believers to "come to" Christ, "a living stone", so that they may be "themselves built into a spiritual house." The imagery of the stone calls to mind both the steadfastness of love and the pulse of life, like the rock in the desert from which gushed forth the water of life. This stone, rejected by the builders of a violent, evil world, has been chosen by God as the corner stone of a new spiritual house, the community of believers. The stones that make up this house are the believers. They should found their lives on the cornerstone, that is the Lord who sustains the house of the community, and they should live by the same love and resist evil with the same fortitude. Perhaps they too will be rejected by the people, as happened to the corner stone, and yet, this is why they are so important to build a new spiritual house. Being different from the world is the confirmation of the evangelical truthfulness of the Christian community. This is why only God, the only and true architect, can build this temple. But it is necessary that each believer feel the responsibility of being a living stone, that is clear in faith, generous in love, and strong in hope. Perhaps, while writing this letter, Peter was remembering in a particular way the words that Jesus spoke to him in Caesarea Philippi: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church" (Mt 16:18). And Peter extends the meaning of those words to the disciples: all Christians are living stones of a new spiritual house built on the foundation that is Jesus himself. Peter can then say that Christians are, like Israel, the "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people" (ex 19:6). The believers, reunited around Jesus, become the single body that, with one heart and one soul, turns to God in praise, thanksgiving and invocation so that the world may be saved. We are not divided individuals anymore, but a people who has found God’s mercy (see Hos 2:25). The Christian community is not built for itself but to become the new temple built amidst the people to "proclaim" to all the love of the Lord and direct all on the way of salvation.
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
