Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Corinthians 12, 11-21
I have turned into a fool, but you forced me to it. It is you that should have been commending me; those super-apostles had no advantage over me, even if I am nothing at all.
All the marks characteristic of a true apostle have been at work among you: complete perseverance, signs, marvels, demonstrations of power.
Is there any way in which you have been given less than the rest of the churches, except that I did not make myself a burden to you? Forgive me for this unfairness!
Here I am, ready to come to you for the third time and I am not going to be a burden on you: it is not your possessions that I want, but yourselves. Children are not expected to save up for their parents, but parents for their children,
and I am more than glad to spend what I have and to be spent for the sake of your souls. Is it because I love you so much more, that I am loved the less?
All right, then; I did not make myself a burden to you, but, trickster that I am, I caught you by trickery.
Have I taken advantage of you through any of the people I have sent to you?
Titus came at my urging, and I sent his companion with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Can you deny that he and I were following the guidance of the same Spirit and were on the same tracks?
All this time you have been thinking that we have been pleading our own cause before you; no, we have been speaking in Christ and in the presence of God -- and all, dear friends, to build you up.
I am afraid that in one way or another, when I come, I may find you different from what I should like you to be, and you may find me what you would not like me to be; so that in one way or the other there will be rivalry, jealousy, bad temper, quarrels, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorders;
and when I come again, my God may humiliate me in front of you and I shall be grieved by all those who sinned in the past and have still not repented of the impurities and sexual immorality and debauchery that they have committed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The discourse of his defence is finished and Paul shows the Corinthians his true face, that of a father. He is well aware of the value of the Gospel that he has announced and of the strength that comes from God. For this reason he is not at all ashamed to insist with the Corinthians on defending his presence in their midst. He loves them like no other, because he has generated them into the Christian life with “signs and wonders and mighty works” (v. 12). Not only has he refused economic support from them, as those “super¬-apostles” demand, but has been lavish in love. With irony, he asks pardon for this “wrong” (v. 13). He warns them that he will be with them again to seek “not what is yours but you” (v. 14). Paul wants the hearts of the faithful of Corinth; he wants their love, their obedience to the gospel of Christ. This is the true reality of Christian life. Paul presents himself as those parents who willingly devote themselves to their children and provide all they need. And he does this solely for love, so much so that he writes to them, “If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” (v. 15). This request for love is touching. It is not a question of cold reciprocity, as we so often reason among ourselves in a petty way. But there is no doubt that the only adequate response to a love that gives all freely is to return love with equal generosity. In any case, the apostle will continue his preaching of the gospel free of charge and will remain linked in a very special way with the community of Corinth. In these statements emerges the missionary passion of a disciple of Jesus who does not communicate the Gospel in an abstract and impersonal manner. The apostle communicates it by binding himself personally, I would say from the depth of his heart, to the community, caring for and loving the brothers and sisters whom he has generated in the name of the Lord. The communication of the Gospel and the love for the sisters and brothers who have been generated by it cannot be separated. There can be no commun¬ication of the Gospel in an abstract manner. It is in this way that Paul sends his disciples now here, now there to keep alive the personal connection through which he is able to pass on the faith. It is not a book which is needed but apostles, brothers and sisters who know how to convey the Gospel of Christ to the heart. The Gospel communicated personally with love - and often through difficulties and tribulations - performs miracles in the lives of those who welcome and receive it. And the first miracle is the communion formed among those who before were dispersed. The apostle hopes to find it on his arrival among the Corinthians.
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
