Memory of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr (+258). He reorganized the service to the poor in Rome. Prayer for the poor and for those who serve them in the name of the Gospel. Read more
Memory of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr (+258). He reorganized the service to the poor in Rome. Prayer for the poor and for those who serve them in the name of the Gospel.
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 John 2, 23-27
Whoever denies the Son cannot have the Father either; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father too.
Let what you heard in the beginning remain in you; as long as what you heard in the beginning remains in you, you will remain in the Son and in the Father.
And the promise he made you himself is eternal life.
So much have I written to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
But as for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you; since the anointing he gave you teaches you everything, and since it is true, not false, remain in him just as he has taught you.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle John sees before his eyes the false prophets on one side, who are trying to divide the community, and on the other side the faithful, who should not be afraid because they have an interior [or inner] source of protection (the anointing) that saves them from error. The anointing is the efficacious gift of the Holy Spirit acting in the believers’ hearts. That is why the apostle writes that it is "true and not a lie." In his farewell address to the disciples, Jesus had said, "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said" (Jn 14:26). Abiding in the "anointing" means staying in the evangelic heart of the community, that is, staying faithful to the Word that we received in the beginning and that bore us to new life. It is unusual that the verb "abide" appears here five times in just a few verses. It seems to emphasize how precious it is to abide in faithfulness to the anointing that we have received and to the community that is called to live this anointing and give witness to it in the world. Salvation does not depend on the works that we do but on our abiding in the Word that bore us and in the community in which we were welcomed. "To abide" indicates a choice of life and sharing. It is the same verb Jesus uses speaking of the abiding of the disciple in him, as the branch of the vine: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 5:5). This abiding is physical, of course, but more importantly it is also spiritual and internal, and consists of listening and obeying, praying, and living in fraternity, commitment, and generous service. Whoever abides in the community in this way abides in God, and this is "eternal life."
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
