Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 John 1, 1-6
From the Elder: my greetings to the Lady, the chosen one, and to her children, whom I love in truth -- and I am not the only one, for so do all who have come to know the Truth -- and I am not the only one, for so so do all who have come to know the Truth-
because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us for ever.
In our life of truth and love, we shall have grace, faithful love and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.
It has given me great joy to find that children of yours have been living the life of truth as we were commanded by the Father.
And now I am asking you -- dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but only the one which we have had from the beginning -- that we should love one another.
To love is to live according to his commandments: this is the commandment which you have heard since the beginning, to live a life of love.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The "presbyter" who wrote the Second Letter of John is probably John’s disciple, which permits him to use the pronoun "we" in order to indicate his belonging to the Johannine community, which he wants to serve by way of this letter. To underscore that the community is comprised of the "elect," those who are chosen to be children of the Lord, he addresses the community by calling it the "elect lady." Since the very beginning the disciple has made his love for them apparent: "whom I love in the truth" (v. 1). Wanting to make truth the central theme of the letter, he repeats the word "truth" (aletheia) four times in the course of just a few lines. The love of God is not a matter of psychology or of fleeting emotions, but of the "truth," of the Spirit of God infused into the heart of the disciples. To live in truth means to allow the Spirit of the Lord to guide us. Truth is manifested fully in love. Jesus, at the Last Supper, said to the disciples, "The Father will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever" (Jn 14:16). The permanence of love in truth generates "grace, mercy, and peace" in the hearts of the believers, notes the author. This is why he is overjoyed to learn that the community is walking "in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father" (v. 4). This recognition does not exempt him, however, from encouraging perseverance in living out the commandment that "we have had from the beginning" (v. 5). Perhaps the author fears external threats could break up the unity of the community. In any case, it is necessary to re-emphasize the primacy of loving one another because it is all too easy to allow our worries and problems to overwhelm us, to forget the primacy of God and of our brothers and sisters who are the substance of Christian life. Jesus himself said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another... By this everyone will know that you are my disciples" (Jn 13:34-35).
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
