Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Corinthians 10,14-22
For that reason, my dear friends, have nothing to do with the worship of false gods. I am talking to you as sensible people; weigh up for yourselves what I have to say. The blessing-cup, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? And as there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf. Now compare the natural people of Israel: is it not true that those who eat the sacrifices share the altar? What does this mean? That the dedication of food to false gods amounts to anything? Or that false gods themselves amount to anything? No, it does not; simply that when pagans sacrifice, what is sacrificed by them is sacrificed to demons who are not God. I do not want you to share with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons as well; you cannot have a share at the Lord's table and the demons' table as well. Do we really want to arouse the Lord's jealousy; are we stronger than he is?
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle returns to the issue of meat sacrificed to idols and urges the Corinthians to flee from idolatry, that is, not to put themselves at the service of the idols of this world. And there are many idols to whom we sometimes make offerings and on whose altars we sacrifice our lives. And perhaps the first idol on whose altar we sacrifice even the things that are most dear to us is our ego. Yes the idolatry of the self is a cult that is constantly growing and is the origin of many evils and conflicts, both near and far. There is the individual ego and the collective ego, the ego of the group or nation. The highest and strongest objection to this idol is the Eucharist itself. The Eucharist is the source of the Church’s life. The Eucharist transforms the Church into the Body of Christ. Participation in the one bread and one chalice make a single body out of many. Saint Augustine wisely says, "In this bread you see what you are and receive what you are." The Eucharist is the work site where the Church is built, where the scattered are gathered, and through the fire of the Spirit, fused together in strong communion that allows them to build that unique spiritual structure where people can find salvation and live in the hope of the Kingdom. When we draw near to the Eucharist, we are transformed into the very body of Christ so that we may have Christ’s own life in us, his feelings and his passion for other people. The early Christians said that they needed to live in a Eucharistic way, that is, with the same spirit as Christ, who in the bread and wine was "broken" and "poured out" for others, without holding back anything for himself. This is what motivated the martyrs of Abitinae, who were killed because they celebrated the Sunday Eucharist. When the judge asked them why, they answered, "We cannot live without the Lord’s day." And many Christians in recent time have become martyrs again because they gathered to celebrate the Eucharist on Sunday. They stand before us to remind us of this incomparable mystery of communion.
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
