Memory of the apostles Philip and James. Read more
Memory of the apostles Philip and James.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 14, 6-14
Jesus said: I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.
Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him,
'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works.
You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works.
In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The memory of the two apostles Philip and James started to be celebrated when the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, that preserves their relics, was dedicated in Rome in the sixth century. Philip, a native of Bethsaida, is among the first to be called by Jesus and it is to him that Jesus, in the first multiplication of bread, asks how many loaves of bread there are. To Philip turn the two Greeks who wanted to see Jesus and it is he who asks Jesus: “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” According to an ancient tradition, Philip preached the Gospel in Asia Minor and died a martyr in Phrygia. The apostle James is identified as the son of Alpheus and at the same time as Jesus’ brother who became the first to be in charge of the Judeo-Christian community of Jerusalem. The first Catholic letter addressed to the Judeo-Christians of diaspora is attributed to him. Tradition says that he died being thrown down the pinnacle of the temple while he repeated the same words of Jesus: “Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Augustine’s words that sing the love of the apostles and reaches martyrdom are splendid: “Consider, o brethren, the magnitude of the event for which men were sent all over the world to proclaim a man who died and was raised to heaven and for the sake of this proclamation they suffered from all that an insane world imposed on them: lost, exile, prison, torments, flames, beats, crosses and death. Did Peter die for personal glory? Someone died so that Another could be honoured; one was put to death so that the Other could receive adoration. Could anyone do this if they were not animated by the fire of charity and of the intimate conscience of truth?” All this came from being with Jesus, from the meeting with that teacher who changed their lives. The Gospel shows us Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. He will lead us them the Father. It is Philip who on behalf of all asks: “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus answers him with a heartfelt rebuke: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” We are here at the heart of Christian faith. We meet God through Jesus. John writes in his first letter: “No one has ever seen God” (4:12). Jesus reveals Him to us. Philip and James, with their witness, continue to repeat it so that our faith may grow.
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
