Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Hebrews 13, 1-6
Continue to love each other like brothers,
and remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; and those who are being badly treated, since you too are in the body.
Marriage must be honoured by all, and marriages must be kept undefiled, because the sexually immoral and adulterers will come under God's judgement.
Put avarice out of your lives and be content with whatever you have; God himself has said: I shall not fail you or desert you,
and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord on my side, I fear nothing: what can human beings do to me?
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This last chapter of the Letter opens with an exhortation to love: “Let mutual love continue.” This is to be distinguished not only by the works of charity, as in the past (see 6:l0, l0:33), but by “remaining” in love. Moreover Jesus had said: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35). This mutual love specifies the community as Christian and makes it an efficacious witness of the Gospel. An integral part of this fraternity is attention to “hospitality.” The biblical tradition is permeated by this golden thread of hospitality. The author reminds us that “by doing [so] some have entertained angels without knowing it.” The reference, to Abraham who welcomed the three pilgrims under the oak of Mamre, is evident. We may add that the entire Christian story is marked by this tension towards hospitality. In the universal judgment as reported by Matthew (25:35), Jesus says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Brotherly and sisterly love does not remain closed in the circle of one’s own community; necessarily it extends towards others, towards prisoners and those who suffer, and towards all those who are waiting for help. Even marriage is included in the horizon of this love. The author wishes to preserve it from those betrayals which arise from the satisfaction of one’s own instincts or one’s own desires. Marriage, in fact, which goes beyond simple sexual union, is aimed at the creation of a family in society and in the church that enables a harmonious existence through all stages and conditions of life. Christians are invited to choose an austere lifestyle and not to be dominated by a frantic race for a personal well-being that does not take the life of others into account. This is why the Letter first warns against avarice, that is, against accumulating wealth for oneself without considering one’s responsibility for the poor and the weak. The call to be contented’ with what one has is not an invitation to resignation, but an exhortation to abandon ourselves to the mercy of God who never leaves us. It is a Gospel lifestyle that Jesus lived in the first person and has passed on to his disciples.
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
