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
2 Corinthians 2, 1-17
I made up my mind, then, that my next visit to you would not be a painful one,
for if I cause you distress I am causing distress to my only possible source of joy.
Indeed, I wrote as I did precisely to spare myself distress when I visited you, from the very people who should have given me joy, in the conviction that for all of you my joy was yours too.
I wrote to you in agony of mind, not meaning to cause you distress but to show you how very much love I have for you.
If anyone did cause distress, he caused it not to me, but -- not to exaggerate -- in some degree to all of you.
The punishment already imposed by the majority was quite enough for such a person;
and now by contrast you should forgive and encourage him all the more, or he may be overwhelmed by the extent of his distress.
That is why I urge you to give your love towards him definite expression.
This was in fact my reason for writing, to test your quality and whether you are completely obedient.
But if you forgive anybody, then I too forgive that person; and whatever I have forgiven, if there is anything I have forgiven, I have done it for your sake in Christ's presence,
to avoid being outwitted by Satan, whose scheming we know only too well.
When I came to Troas for the sake of the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me there in the Lord,
I had no relief from anxiety, not finding my brother Titus there, and I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
But, thanks be to God who always gives us in Christ a part in his triumphal procession, and through us is spreading everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of himself.
To God we are the fragrance of Christ, both among those who are being saved and among those who are on the way to destruction;
for these last, the smell of death leading to death, but for the first, the smell of life leading to life. Who is equal to such a task?
At least we do not adulterate the word of God, as so many do, but it is in all purity, as envoys of God and in God's presence, that we speak in Christ.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul had decided not to return to Corinth so as not to afflict the community. Their sadness would also have saddened him. On the other hand, he does not want to rule over his communities, he wants them to grow lovingly. He had therefore sent them a letter (now lost), written with “many tears,” in which he expressed his grief and sorrow: “But to let you know the abundant love that I have for you” (v. 4). Not that the sorrow caused by the one who had offended him personally had disappeared (see 7.12). That person, in truth, was also offending the entire community; thus it was right to punish him. The punishment, however, observes Paul, should not be pushed as far as harshness. The necessary exercise of correction must not endanger the salvation of the guilty. Thus, it is necessary to exercise charity of forgiveness also towards those who have sown discord. Notwith¬standing the difficulties he encountered, Paul does not cease to render thanks to God for having made him a participant in the Gospel of the resurrection which he has tirelessly communicated to all, above all to the Gentiles and which has become the “perfume of Christ” for the whole world. Paul is aware that communicating the Gospel is the foundation of Christian life. For those who listen to it, the Gospel becomes an occasion for a decisive choice, for life or for death. Those who choose it become in turn the fragrance of Christ. To deprive anyone of the Word of life which comes from God is therefore a great responsibility. Strong of the Gospel, we communi¬cate it with frankness and generosity so that the fragrance of Christ may reach all.
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
