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
Romans 8, 31b-39
Since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for the sake of all of us, then can we not expect that with him he will freely give us all his gifts?
Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice
who can condemn? Are we not sure that it is Christ Jesus, who died -- yes and more, who was raised from the dead and is at God's right hand -- and who is adding his plea for us?
Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ -- can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing, or threats or violence;
as scripture says: For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered?
No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us.
For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power,
nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle concludes this part of the Letter, which focuses on the Spirit, with a hymn to God’s love. There is an initial question that reveals the strength of faith: "If God is for us, who is against us" Believers base their hope not on themselves or their own strength, but on the steadfastness of God’s love. It is the Lord who defends, sustains, protects, and saves his children. He does everything to save them. Ever since the burning bush, God has revealed himself as the one who would never abandon his people. By saying, "I am who I am," God meant: "I am the one who is always with my people, who accompanies him in the desert, who brings them to the promised land, and who sustains them every day." All of Scripture describes this incredible descent of God’s love towards men and women. The culmination of this relationship occurs with Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. The Father’s love is so amazing that he not only sent his Son into the world, he even allowed him to be "sacrificed" for the salvation of all. This is the love that gives substance to our faith. Using the image of a lawsuit brought against believers, the apostle can say, "Who will bring any charge against God’s elect It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised!" It is as if the believer is pre-emptively acquitted by God’s embrace. It is just a matter of accepting it. Nothing, in fact, except our own free decision, can separate us from this love. The apostle enumerates a series of situations: death or life, angels or rulers, things present or and things to come, powers, heights, depths, or any other force that can strike a believer. And indeed believers often experience difficulties and opposition, right up until their death. But none of this "will be able to separate us from the love 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
