Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
1 Corinthians 3, 1-9
And so, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual people; I had to talk to you as people still living by your natural inclinations, still infants in Christ;
I fed you with milk and not solid food, for you were not yet able to take it -- and even now, you are still not able to,
for you are still living by your natural inclinations. As long as there are jealousy and rivalry among you, that surely means that you are still living by your natural inclinations and by merely human principles.
While there is one that says, 'I belong to Paul' and another that says, 'I belong to Apollos' are you not being only too human?
For what is Apollos and what is Paul? The servants through whom you came to believe, and each has only what the Lord has given him.
I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave growth.
In this, neither the planter nor the waterer counts for anything; only God, who gives growth.
It is all one who does the planting and who does the watering, and each will have the proper pay for the work that he has done.
After all, we do share in God's work; you are God's farm, God's building.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Paul reminds the Christians of Corinth that they are still at the beginning of their spiritual journey. Demonstrating great pastoral wisdom, the apostle uses the powerful image of the mother who nourishes her child with milk rather than solid food. Faith is not just a matter of learning certain truths by heart; we need to mature internally and grow in awareness and love, which requires remarkable wisdom and pastoral patience. Our “flesh” (that is, our jealousy, our quarrels, and our pride), which guides our thoughts and our behaviours, is the obstacle that stands in the way of the Lord, of those who have pastoral responsibility, and of each one of us who has to “grow.” This is the source of the damage our communion suffers, and this is what causes the ruptures that threaten the unity of the community, that is, its very life. Paul again warns Christians not to endanger the unity of the community that is the body of Christ. This is why disciples cannot let themselves be guided by their own instincts (pride, selfishness, self-sufficiency, greed, hard-headedness, and so on), which separate them from each other and, above all, distance them from the Spirit of the Lord, which alone can make the community grow according to the Gospel. Paul reminds his readers that there is only one true teacher and one true shepherd of the community. No one possesses it, and no one should impose his or her own rhythms, habits, and traditions on the others. We are all called to be “God’s servants, working together” to build his spiritual “building.” We all need to work together in this building with the charisms we have received from the Lord. Paul reminds us that we need to pay attention to how to build the family of God, knowing well that the only true and solid foundation of the Church is the Gospel.
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
