Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
3 John 1,5-8
My dear friend, you have done loyal work in helping these brothers, even though they were strangers to you. They are a proof to the whole Church of your love and it would be a kindness if you could help them on their journey as God would approve. It was entirely for the sake of the name that they set out, without depending on the non-believers for anything: it is our duty to welcome people of this sort and contribute our share to their work for the truth.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The third letter resembles a note similar to the one Paul wrote to Philemon. The author ("presbyter") begins by saluting Gaius whom he "loves in truth," repeating the typical Johannine formula already used in the second letter. He wishes that "all may go well" with him and that he may be in "good health, just as it is well with your soul" (v. 2). Correct behaviour is none other than continuing to "walk in truth" (v. 3). The theme of "truth" returns here, truth understood not as an abstract complex of affirmations to believe, but as the very mystery of God which has manifested itself through history, that is Jesus Christ who died, was risen and continues to live in his Church. The permanence in this mystery constitutes the reason for the presbyter’s joy: "I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (v. 4). This is the joy of the shepherd that sees his community walking on the way of the Gospel. We could compare this joy to that of Jesus when he welcomed the disciples who returned from their first mission. This same exultation is similar to the welcome the Christian community gave to the first missionaries of the Gospel. We are at the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, and it is important to note that the author of the letter highlights this welcoming toward missionaries. In such a way Christian fraternity is clearly manifested, a fraternity that overcomes distinctions between foreigners and familiar ones, as Jesus’ words clearly show. The Gospel makes even those who are far and foreigners become brothers and sisters. This new condition requires Christians to welcome and to care, as brothers and sisters, about those who, having left their homes, walk where the Lord sends them to communicate the Gospel. This attentive welcoming of fellow disciples is not simply a good work; it means being part of the very mission of the Church, as the letter notes: "Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become co-workers with the truth" (v. 8) Welcoming makes us part of the plan of God who sent His Son to save the world. Help given to anyone who communicates the Gospel makes us collaborators in the same mystery. In this we see the universality of the Church manifested, a universality that welcomes strangers as brothers and sisters.
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
