Today the Armenian Church remembers Metz Yeghern, "the "great Evil." It is the memorial of the massacre suffered during the First World War in which more than one million Armenians were killed. Read more
Today the Armenian Church remembers Metz Yeghern, "the "great Evil." It is the memorial of the massacre suffered during the First World War in which more than one million Armenians were killed.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 12,44-50
Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in me from staying in the dark any more. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world: anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken of my own accord; but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak, and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus presents himself not only as the Father's envoy, but he is one with him. He came into the world as the true light that reveals the mystery of love hidden in God. Finally, the Son has revealed it to us: Jesus, God's "exegete," explains and shows us the Father's love. So, whoever hears the words of the Son will be saved, while whoever does not hear them or rejects them will be condemned. It is a matter of listening and keeping the Gospel word, that is, of welcoming it and putting it into practice, as Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus speaks to save, not to condemn. He does not despise either the wick that barely smokes and is in danger of being shut off by a small puff or the cracked reed that is in danger of breaking at any moment. The real condemnation, in fact, does not come from the Word of God, but from the little faith we place in it: we do not believe that it can change hearts, that it can generate new feelings and actions. In fact, if we do not welcome the Word of God and make it life, how can it guide us, heal us, make us happy? We will be condemned to listen only to ourselves and remain prisoners of our own little horizon. Whereas if we listen to the Gospel of Christ, we are introduced into the very mystery of God: "What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me." There is like a descending chain of love: the Father communicates the truth of his love to the Son, and the Son in turn communicates it to us. Every time we listen to the Word of God and approach the Eucharist we are welcomed into the mystery of communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Lord lowers himself down to us to make us like him.
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
