Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Philippians 1, 1-11
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with their presiding elders and the deacons.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God whenever I think of you,
and every time I pray for you all, I always pray with joy
for your partnership in the gospel from the very first day up to the present.
I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.
It is only right that I should feel like this towards you all, because you have a place in my heart, since you have all shared together in the grace that has been mine, both my chains and my work defending and establishing the gospel.
For God will testify for me how much I long for you all with the warm longing of Christ Jesus;
it is my prayer that your love for one another may grow more and more with the knowledge and complete understanding
that will help you to come to true discernment, so that you will be innocent and free of any trace of guilt when the Day of Christ comes,
entirely filled with the fruits of uprightness through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Already by his second visit, Paul had founded the community in Philippi in the year 50 AD (Acts 16:12-40). Now he is writing to them from prison, perhaps in Ephesus (or from Rome, at the end of his life). In the beginning of the letter, the apostle astounds us: he does not talk about his difficulties, but rather gives thanks to the Lord and rejoices in the memory of the generosity with which the Christian community in Philippi communicates the Gospel. His words are full of affection for those first disciples in the community in Philippi. The Gospel creates bonds of love so strong that not even difficulties can deaden let alone eliminate them. Furthermore, even from prison the Apostle testifies that the communion among Jesus’ disciples is a force and a grace that keeps us steady in the one unique love. His words reveal that at the heart of this profound communion is prayer. Twice the apostle writes that he prays for the Christians in Philippi. In prayer, Christians feel united both with brothers and sisters near and far, and strengthens the love that God has given through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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
