EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, April 28


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John 14,7-14

If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him. Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works. In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jesus has just told the apostles that he is the way to reach the Father in heaven. He was not leaving them without direction: those who listen to and put in practice his word will be able to know the Father. Jesus clarifies it even further: "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." The verb "to know" and "to see" regard the dimension of faith, a knowledge and a vision that go beyond the visible dimension and regard God's beyond. Philip, as if to put a definitive end to the conversation, asks, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus responds with a heartfelt rebuke, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Here we penetrate into the heart of the Christian faith and of all religious seeking. Jesus states with clarity that we encounter God, the creator of heaven and earth, through him. "No one has ever seen God," John writes in his first Letter (4:12). It is Jesus, who knew him, who reveals him to us. If we want to see God's face, we have to look at Jesus; if we want to know God's thoughts, it is sufficient to know the Gospel; if we want to understand how God acts, we need to observe Jesus' behaviour. The Father of heaven is as close to the lives of men and women as Jesus was: he is a God who makes the dead rise, who becomes a child to be close to us, who weeps over his dead friend, who walks on human roads, who stops, who heals, and who is moved with compassion for all. He is truly the Father of all. Jesus adds even more daring words that he only can pronounce. He says that if we are bound to him we will do the same works he does. Indeed, Jesus says we will do even greater ones. People normally forget or do not meditate enough over these words; if anything, they seem exaggerated or in any event unlikely. We often happen to think that we are more realistic and truthful than the Gospel. In truth in this way we follow a worldly reading of the Gospel and we deny its power. The Gospel has a power that comes from containing the very Word of God, which always creates life and love. If we nourish ourselves with the words of the Gospel our words will be powerful and effective: "I will do whatever you ask in my name." Yes, our prayer, if done in the name of Jesus, is strong and powerful: it will go straight to God's heart. And God will almost yield to our word. But also, the words of preaching, of consolation and exhortation that we will pronounce in the name of Jesus will have the power to change the hearts of those who listen to them and the society in which we live.

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!