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 16, 16-20
In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again.
Then some of his disciples said to one another, 'What does he mean, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again," and, "I am going to the Father"?
What is this "short time"? We don't know what he means.'
Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said, 'You are asking one another what I meant by saying, "In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again."
'In all truth I tell you, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus continues to speak to the disciples and announces to them his imminent departure and his future return. Previously he had told them that he would go to the Father and that he would send them the Paraclete. Now he reassures them in their sadness, promising them that his absence will be brief and that soon they will see him: “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.” The disciples are a little disoriented by these words but in reality Jesus wants to point to them his death and resurrection. This is the meaning of his distance that will be transformed soon into a closeness much deeper than the physical one which up until then they had been living. Jesus is speaking of his death and resurrection, but before the disciples are overcome by disappointment and discomfort Jesus wants to explain that the painful break-- represented by his departure from earth to return to the Father--is not a separation in reality. After his death the resurrection will come. It is the victory of life over death. Such victory conquers every separation. What counts for the disciples, back then and today, is to continue to seek Jesus and to desire to be close to him. The apostles seem upset by these paradoxical words: how can physical separation become an even tighter closeness? Jesus does not leave their unsettlement without answering. And he tells them that the pain and sadness for his departure will become a prayer of invocation able to change the sadness of distance into the joy of a rediscovered closeness. In effect, after the ascension of Jesus to the Father, every man and every woman in every corner of the earth can have the Lord next to them and invoke Him with prayer: the Lord will speak to their hearts through his Word, the Eucharist and the love of the community.
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
