Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Philippians 2,1-4
So if in Christ there is anything that will move you, any incentive in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any warmth or sympathy -- I appeal to you, make my joy complete by being of a single mind, one in love, one in heart and one in mind. Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul exhorts the Christians of Philippi to live in love. A father is worried that his children are united, that seeds of division, comparisons and opposition do not grow among them. We know how easy it is. We all should and can learn to live in love. And the words of the Apostle help us understand what it means to truly love one another. And we can all learn it and live it in every season of our lives! We can live in love only if we are animated by humility and not by vainglory, only if we seek the interest of others more than our own. The apostle reaches here one of the central aspects of his request to the Philippians: unity and holiness are achieved only to the extent that all turn their gaze to Jesus and welcome in ourselves "the same mind" of Jesus. Christians are above all people who model their hearts on the sentiments of Jesus, their minds on the thoughts of Jesus, their lives on the life of Jesus. Disciples imitate the Master in everything: they follow him, listen to him and they remain as such forever. The life of Jesus, we know, is marked by the kenosis, abasement: he, who was God, humbled himself to become a servant, even accepting death, death on the cross, in order to remain faithful to his choice of love and thus to save the world. His abasement to the point of becoming a servant was not a choice of fake humility but the consequence of a love without limit for men and women. For that love, God exalted Jesus, that is He freed him from the bonds of death. And in the name of Jesus everyone can find salvation. The invitation of the Apostle, as a rule that must guide all life for everyone, is real. Everyone in humility should consider others better than him or herself. It is a very practical rule to be happy, because it makes us discover our neighbour: we get used to give them importance, and not to despise them as we do very often when we look at the speck or we judge often. Let us follow Jesus, the greatest, who became a servant to make us great. For the greatest is the one who makes others great.
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
