The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Read more
The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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
Acts 25,1-12
Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. The chief priests and leaders of the Jews informed him of the case against Paul, urgently asking him to support them against him, and to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush to murder him on the way. But Festus replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he would be going back there shortly himself. He said, 'Let your authorities come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, they can bring a charge against him.' After staying with them for eight or ten days at the most, he went down to Caesarea and the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and had Paul brought in. As soon as Paul appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, making many serious accusations which they were unable to substantiate. Paul's defence was this, 'I have committed no offence whatever against either Jewish law, or the Temple, or Caesar.' Festus was anxious to gain favour with the Jews, so he said to Paul, 'Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges before me there?' But Paul replied, 'I am standing before the tribunal of Caesar and this is where I should be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you very well know. If I am guilty of committing any capital crime, I do not ask to be spared the death penalty. But if there is no substance in the accusations these persons bring against me, no one has a right to surrender me to them. I appeal to Caesar.' Then Festus conferred with his advisers and replied, 'You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Acts of the Apostles dedicates three of its last five chapters to Paul’s trial. In truth, two long years of waiting were necessary to celebrate it. During that time, a new governor came to office; Festus, a shrewd official, succeeded Felix and came to learn about Paul’s situation very soon. So when the leaders of the Jews asked him to adjourn the trial, he immediately accepted. However, suspecting a plot against the defendant, Festus did not grant the “favour” to send the trial back to Jerusalem. Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that was where the trial would be examined. Despite the prosecutor’s obstinacy, the debate did not bring any new elements to light. Festus realized that the question was more religious than juridical. Hoping to gain favour with the Jews, he asked Paul if he wanted to go to Jerusalem before the religious institution. At this point, Paul, seeing that Festus was leaning towards the Jews, made his famous appeal to Caesar. Festus, after consulting his counsel, accepted it, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.” Obviously, the governor was not aware of the fact that with his decision he was “obeying” God’s plan of opening the way to Rome for the apostle; Paul would reach the heart of the empire, where he would bear his testimony as a martyr.
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
