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
3 John 1, 9-15
I have written a note for the members of the church, but Diotrephes, who enjoys being in charge of it, refuses to accept us.
So if I come, I shall tell everyone how he has behaved, and about the wicked accusations he has been circulating against us. As if that were not enough, he not only refuses to welcome our brothers, but prevents from doing so other people who would have liked to, and expels them from the church.
My dear friend, never follow a bad example, but keep following the good one; whoever does what is right is from God, but no one who does what is wrong has ever seen God.
Demetrius has been approved by everyone, and indeed by Truth itself. We too will vouch for him and you know that our testimony is true.
There were several things I had to tell you but I would rather not trust them to pen and ink.
However, I hope to see you soon and talk to you in person.
Peace be with you; greetings from your friends; greet each of our friends by name.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The "elder" begins the second part of his letter by criticizing the behaviour of Diotrephes, who is perhaps the very leader of the community that the presbyter wants to bring back to a true understanding of service. Diotrephes truly seems far from the sensibility of the Gospel that demands exemplary behaviour from whoever leads the community. Even more, in this case, it is a matter of his attitude toward the first itinerant preachers that is of concern. If one ought to honour and welcome every stranger, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, how much more should one do the same for those who communicate the Gospel? Today, we also must place this demand upon ourselves, remembering the attention and respect that we should pay those who spend their lives communicating the Gospel to edify the community and bring release and succour to the weak in a world as complex and difficult as ours. As consumed as we are with ourselves, it often happens (and not too rarely) that instead of helping our brothers and sisters we end up placing obstacles in front of them with our insensibility, misunderstanding or, worse still, our indifference. How important, then, it is to listen today to the warning from John’s Letter: "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good." We should imitate the enthusiasm that our brothers and sisters have for the Gospel and welcome the task of communicating it wherever we live. If we do as such, we will come from God. If we remain in our egocentrism, however, John’s Letter is right in saying that "we have not seen God" (v. 11). Demetrius, who is perhaps one of the itinerant preachers, stands before us as an example in whose footsteps we should follow. We read that everybody testifies to his faithfulness. This is what happens to the Christian community when it becomes a witness of the love of God and of humanity, which is what happened to the first community in Jerusalem that enjoyed the "favour" of all the people.
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
