Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 22,30-23,11
The next day, since he wanted to know for sure what charge the Jews were bringing, he freed Paul and gave orders for a meeting of the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin; then he brought Paul down and set him in front of them. Paul looked steadily at the Sanhedrin and began to speak, 'My brothers, to this day I have conducted myself before God with a perfectly clear conscience.' At this the high priest Ananias ordered his attendants to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, 'God will surely strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there to judge me according to the Law, and then break the Law by ordering a man to strike me?' The attendants said, 'Are you insulting the high priest of God? Paul answered, 'Brothers, I did not realise it was the high priest; certainly scripture says, "You will not curse your people's leader." ' Now Paul was well aware that one party was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, so he called out in the Sanhedrin, 'Brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees. It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.' As soon as he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was split between the two parties. For the Sadducees say there is neither resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, while the Pharisees accept all three. The shouting grew louder, and some of the scribes from the Pharisees' party stood up and protested strongly, 'We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?' Feeling was running high, and the tribune, afraid that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered his troops to go down and haul him out and bring him into the fortress. Next night, the Lord appeared to him and said, 'Courage! You have borne witness for me in Jerusalem, now you must do the same in Rome.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul, loosed from his chains, is led before the Sanhedrin so that the basis of his guilt may be clarified. The apostle “looks fixedly” on all and, certain of the Lord’s help, addresses them, calling them “brothers.” Paul wants to show that he is the “true” Jew and thus the Christians as the true heirs of Judaism. He tries to summarize what he had already said in his defence (22:1-21), stressing that he has led his life with a fully good conscience before God. The high priest considers the response brazen and orders that he be struck on the mouth, thus repeating, almost literally, the scene in Jesus’ trial. Paul, who knows from inside the differences that existed between Sadducees and Pharisees, in a dialectical move, pits one group against the other, pointing out his faith in the resurrection of the dead. This line of argumentation incites a tumult among the various groups, so that one of those present even speaks in favour of the apostle similarly to what was said of Jesus, “We find nothing wrong in this man.” As the commotion sharpens, the tribune thinks it opportune to take Paul back to his cell for fear that he will be lynched. During the night, Paul hears the Lord coming to him telling him that he must proclaim the Gospel even to Rome, “Have courage, because in the same way that you have borne witness on my behalf in Jerusalem, so must you give testimony also in Rome.” Paul’s “way” is now marked clearly: “he “must” ?Jesus tells him? preach the Gospel in Rome. The scene has the Jews remain quarrelling among themselves, prisoners of themselves and of their disputes, while the apostle receives, from the Lord himself, a sign to what is beyond: from Jerusalem to Rome. It is a precious sign for one in danger of getting trapped in internal debates and losing sight of obedience to the ever-new word of the Lord.
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
