Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
1 Corinthians 14, 26-40
Then what should it be like, brothers? When you come together each of you brings a psalm or some instruction or a revelation, or speaks in a tongue or gives an interpretation. Let all these things be done in a way that will build up the community.
If there are to be any people speaking in a tongue, then let there be only two, or at the most three, and those one at a time, and let one of these interpret.
If there is no interpreter, then let each of them be quiet in the assembly, and speak only to himself and God.
Let two prophets, or three, speak while the rest weigh their words;
and if a revelation comes to someone else who is sitting by, the speaker should stop speaking.
You can all prophesy, but one at a time, then all will learn something and all receive encouragement.
The prophetic spirit is to be under the prophets' control,
for God is a God not of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of God's holy people,
women are to remain quiet in the assemblies, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is a subordinate part, as the Law itself says.
If there is anything they want to know, they should ask their husbands at home: it is shameful for a woman to speak in the assembly.
Do you really think that you are the source of the word of God? Or that you are the only people to whom it has come?
Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have any spiritual powers must recognise that what I am writing to you is a commandment from the Lord.
If anyone does not recognise this, it is because that person is not recognised himself.
So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not suppress the gift of speaking in tongues.
But make sure that everything is done in a proper and orderly fashion.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The apostle continues to give instructions about how to behave during the liturgical assemblies. Paul’s insistence demonstrates the great esteem he has for these celebrations. In a certain sense, they are the moments in which the community shows its highest face. That is why he is so concerned that everything be done in an organized manner. It is far from the apostle to want to coerce the liberty that comes from the gifts of the Spirit. Nonetheless, he does remind the Corinthians to be orderly in their assemblies. He justifies this by affirming that “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” Thus he underlines, once again, the supreme importance of the unity of community and the ability of the brothers and sisters to live together in an “orderly” way. In this context, he feels the responsibility to urge Christians to be prophets - that is, witnesses who know how to communicate the Gospel to the world clearly. This exhortation is particularly appropriate in our time, when everyone (every individual, group, ethnic group, and nation) is strongly tempted to close itself off in its own individualism, even religiously. The communities of disciples have the task of communicating the one word, the Gospel, so that it can bring a leavening of unity to the entire world. Nonetheless, the life of the community should not be false unanimity. The apostle urges his readers to express all of the charisms, not to smother or block them. Even the question about the behaviour of women in the assembly (Paul is probably referring to married women) should be understood in light of what he already said - that women can speak, but not with their heads uncovered because that would be improper (1 Corinthians 11:5-12). The next set of instructions (v. 14:34-35), which are about not starting a debate in public, comes from an attitude of prudence. The apostle is very aware that the charismatic dimension is an essential element of life in the Church. What counts is for everything to happen for common edification.
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
