Memory of the dedication of the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran. Prayer for the Church of Rome. Memory of the Crystal Night, the beginning of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Read more
Memory of the dedication of the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the Lateran. Prayer for the Church of Rome. Memory of the “Crystal Night”, the beginning of the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
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
John 4, 19-24
'I see you are a prophet, sir,' said the woman.
'Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, though you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.'
Jesus said: Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know; for salvation comes from the Jews.
But the hour is coming -- indeed is already here -- when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The memory of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, celebrated particularly in Rome, is however precious everywhere and for this reason is on the liturgical calendar of the Latin Church. Today, therefore, we are all going on a sort of spiritual pilgrimage to the cathedral of the Church of Rome and gathering around the Pope to be confirmed by him in the common faith of the Lord. It was the beginning of the fourth century when Pope Sylvester I, accompanied by the Roman clergy, entered into the new Basilica to consecrate it to the prayer of the Christian community. It was still not possible at that time to build churches inside the city walls and Constantine designated land from his property outside the walls to build the cathedral of Rome. The pope, like the liturgical rite anticipated, sprinkled holy water on the walls and signed them with twelve crosses as a way of indicating the twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. He then went to the altar, the sign of Christ, the keystone of the new temple, and consecrated it with holy oil and incense. It was a day of celebration for the entire Church of Rome. And, today it is a festival for the entire Church. Yes, all the Churches, even those that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church, today can and should look upon this place on earth as a representation of the heavenly Jerusalem. Today, however, we are not simply remembering an event of the past; nor are we re-evoking the opening of some kind of a museum. That day was a holy day for Rome; truly a day on which the sun did not set. Here, as in every cathedral and church in the world, God’s mercy and presence never sets. We are speaking of the Basilica of Saint John, but we intend to refer to all of the cathedrals throughout the world. In them, we, men and women of the earth, are gathered together and transformed into heaven’s citizens, that is, into the God’s true temple, the place where He has made his dwelling. Nobody is holy alone; nothing is sacred by itself. A place becomes sacred when God sanctifies it, when God dwells there. Addressing Christians in Corinth, Paul said: “Brothers and sisters, you are the building of God;” and gravely he added for those with little memory: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Co 3:16-17). We are God’s temple. Thus we are able to understand, then, the meaning of the words Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman and that today are newly proclaimed: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him” (Jn 4:23). To worship the Father in spirit and truth means letting ourselves fill our heart with the Lord’s grace; allowing His Word to pour over us and build us up as a spiritual temple. The holy temple on earth is a model from which we can take inspiration. This is why in the face of every religious individualism we must ask ourselves what would happen to our buildings of worship if every stone, whether small or large, decided to separate itself and lie strewn in the fields. Simply, they would not exist anymore. And if we try to build beautiful and precious churches (and it is sad how many carelessly built churches we see) it is because they help us to build up the beauty and preciousness of our communion.
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
