Thanksgiving to the Lord for the year that has passed.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 John 2,18-21
Children, this is the final hour; you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many Antichrists have already come; from this we know that it is the final hour. They have gone from among us, but they never really belonged to us; if they had belonged to us, they would have stayed with us. But this was to prove that not one of them belonged to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and have all received knowledge. I have written to you not because you are ignorant of the truth, but because you are well aware of it, and because no lie can come from the truth.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We have reached the end of the calendar year. The First Letter of John opens with the statement that "this is the last hour." We may follow an ancient tradition of the Church that invites us to sing the Te Deum, the ancient song of thanksgiving, for the days the Lord has given us. We know well that the end of the year it is a conventional date. Yet it is well to remember that the time in which we live is not a dimension indifferent to human existence, and that the days of our life are not eternal. Indeed, the days and the years pass and we are asked not to waste them, not to throw them away, but to live them in the presence of God. History in fact is not an empty shell: it is the place where our salvation occurs, the place where the tough battle between good and evil, between freedom to love and slavery to sin is fought. The Apostle John emphasizes this fight by calling attention to the presence of false prophets identified with the antichrist. It is the last the time of the final battle. Several times in the Gospels Jesus warns the disciples about the "end of time", about the last hour. Mark says: "False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect" (Mk 13:23). This warning also appears in the letters of Paul, Peter and Judah. By saying that "the last hour has come," John does not claim that history is going to end, but that now is the time of decision, the final choice that everyone has to make before Jesus and his Gospel. This is true for every Christian generation, in fact for every believer. Indeed we are all tested during our lives by the enemies of the Gospel. We need to remain strong with Jesus and face the task that the Lord has entrusted to us. We cannot delay the decision to other moments, because we do not know if there will be any. John sadly notes that false prophets (antichrists) "went out from us, but they did not belong to us." They were not "anointed by the Holy One," i.e., they did not have the Spirit of Jesus poured into their hearts. Yes, it is not enough to be physically present in the community of believers, it is necessary to live with the Spirit that animates it, to be involved from within. And this happens when you own "knowledge", which is the wisdom of the Gospel. The apostle exhorts us to remain steadfast in the Gospel; this is the way to remain in communion with the Father. While this year closes and a new one opens, the Church invites us to thank God for the time that has elapsed and to face the coming year by letting His Word guide us. May it be the light of our steps.
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
