Memorial of Saint Nil, Russian staretz ( 1508). He was the father of monks to whom he taught the Lord's great love for humanity, exhorting them to ask God for His own feelings (macrotimia in Greek).
Memory of the prayer for the new martyrs presided over by John Paul II at the Coliseum in Rome with the representatives of Christian churches
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Memorial of Saint Nil, Russian staretz ( 1508). He was the father of monks to whom he taught the Lord’s great love for humanity, exhorting them to ask God for His own feelings (macrotimia in Greek).
Memory of the prayer for the new martyrs presided over by John Paul II at the Coliseum in Rome with the representatives of Christian churches
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
John 6, 35-40
Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.
But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.
Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.
Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day.
It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today’s Gospel takes up the final sentence of the Gospel we heard yesterday. It is a statement that recalls those of the Old Testament that speak of the messianic banquet prepared by the Lord to his people: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Finally, the promise of God was fulfilled. Jesus also responded to the hunger for salvation hidden in the hearts of men and women: hunger for meaning, hunger for a life that does not end with death, and that leads to full happiness. Jesus was the answer from heaven, and all could accept it and make it their own. But Jesus bitterly notes that while many saw the signs, they did not open their hearts to receive his word. Yet he “did not reject anyone”: “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.” Even just a little willingness on our part is sufficient so that the miracle can happen. Let us think of the five loaves of barley that were enough to multiply bread for five thousand people. Anyone who approached Jesus was welcomed: it was sufficient to knock, even feebly, to get a response. Didn’t he say before the crowds who followed him: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”? Besides, he had descended from heaven for this: that is, to do the will of the Father who had sent him. And the Father’s will was clear: that he would not lose any of those who had been given to him. His mission was to gather all in the one fold. Elsewhere, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” He had come to collect the scattered people and bring them into the kingdom. The commitment to save without losing any is the continuous effort of the Lord Jesus. In the parable of the lost sheep, he describes not only his passion even for one sheep, but also the willingness to take risks and to follow rough paths. Saving all is Jesus’ constant concern. This concern he wants to be repeated over the centuries through the Church. Yes, the Church, every Christian community, should feel first of all the passion to save all men and women. Pope Francis calls us to this passion. And there is no doubt that the missionary concern should be highlighted in our days and involve all Christians. Unfortunately, we are so often turned in upon ourselves not to feel the urgency of missionary activity. But this takes us away from Jesus and from his desire to liberate the world from the slavery of evil. It is urgent to let ourselves be involved more and more by the same passion that drove Jesus to go along the streets and in the squares of his time. The words of the Jesus that we have heard in this Gospel passage show us clearly what the will of God is and how to achieve it on Earth, “that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” It is a promise that is realized in us just as we spend our lives for the Lord and for others, precisely as Jesus did.
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
