Memorial of St. Joseph the worker and World Labour Day Read more
Memorial of St. Joseph the worker and World Labour Day
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 3, 31-36
He who comes from above is above all others; he who is of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven
bears witness to the things he has seen and heard, but his testimony is not accepted by anybody;
though anyone who does accept his testimony is attesting that God is true,
since he whom God has sent speaks God's own words, for God gives him the Spirit without reserve.
The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to his hands.
Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: God's retribution hangs over him.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel once again proposes the centrality of faith in Jesus for the believer, hence the invitation to look up from earthly things, from our inveterate habits, from religious beliefs given for granted, in order to contemplate Jesus. Today we, too, receive such an invitation. And we need it. How many times, in fact, do we sit in a banal and lazy life and resign ourselves to a world without a future of hope for ourselves and for others! The evangelist leads us to direct our gaze to Jesus: he “comes from above, from heaven” and “it is above all.” Jesus is the true hope for us and for the world. He came down from heaven to be next to us and to communicate to us the life that he lives in a unique way with the Father in heaven: “He - perhaps the Baptist says to his followers - testifies to what he has seen and heard.” Jesus came to Earth to reveal the mystery of God, who otherwise would have remained impenetrable. He did not come to assert himself or to claim personal projects, as usually happens for each of us. Jesus came down from heaven to communicate to men and to women “the words of God” and to give “the Spirit without measure.” It is from this conviction that flows the honour and devotion that we should have for the Holy Scriptures: they contain “the words of God.” Every day, we are called to listen and meditate upon them up to make them our own. The Bible is not just any book for us, but it is the casket that contains the very thought of God. This is why we have to open it, to taste it page after page, letting ourselves be guided by the “Spirit” given to us “without measure” for this purpose. It is not possible to understand the deep meaning of the Holy Scriptures without the help of the Spirit. The Spirit was given to us so abundantly, in fact “without measure,” so that we may be led in listening to and interpreting the Holy Scriptures. Beyond the literal meaning of the biblical words, there is one that is deeper and spiritual, which helps us to tie together the words of the Bible and what we are experiencing. The intertwining of the Bible and history, between the biblical words we hear and our life in our concrete existences, is the work of the Spirit. Thus, listening to the Holy Scriptures should be done in an atmosphere of prayer: we need the Spirit of God to understand the Word of God. For this, the continued listening to the Holy Scriptures, in an atmosphere of prayer, will force our hearts to change, to become instruments in God’s hands to make this world of ours watered by the love of the Lord. The evangelist writes: “The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.” It is the power to change the world, to defeat evil, and to make good grow that the Lord lived first and that he gives to those who believe in him.
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
