Memorial of blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Read more
Memorial of blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Colossians 1, 21-23
You were once estranged and of hostile intent through your evil behaviour;
now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body, to bring you before himself holy, faultless and irreproachable-
as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the gospel, which you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The reconciliation of creation is not an abstract doctrine, but a reality that is made true by Jesus. The Christian community is the place where this reconciliation is made visible in the present. Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae, urging them not to forget their condition prior to conversion, when they were strangers to one another and lived like barbarians, devoted to the worship of idols, far from the people of the Covenant and hence far from God. Rather than the result of sinful action, distance from God is the result of a life turned in on itself. The apostle writes to the Colossians to help them understand the radical newness that the Gospel brings into human life. It is a true rebirth, which the sacred authors did not hesitate to call a "new creation." The salvation brought by the Gospel is not a philosophical theory founded on vain reasoning. It is rooted in the death of a real person, a "fleshly body," Jesus. And after his death, a new life is born. In fact, in order to obtain reconciliation, the Son lowered himself to the point of completely sharing in the human condition - distance from God and sin. Believers who have welcomed him have become holy, immaculate, and blameless, like the Son. And they are called to live in a manner worthy of this calling. Indeed, once we have welcomed the Gospel, we must remain faithful to it to the end. The apostle reminds the Colossians, and the believers of today, that the Gospel was proclaimed "to every creature under heaven," that is, it was preached in the various cultures of the known world and to all levels of society. This guarantee of universality is a precious strength in every age, but especially in our time, when narrow-minded identities and selfishness, that foment hatred and conflict, seem to be on the rise. The Gospel of Christ works to gather all into the one family of God. ?
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
