Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Corinthians 12,1-10
I am boasting because I have to. Not that it does any good, but I will move on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago -- still in the body? I do not know; or out of the body? I do not know: God knows -- was caught up right into the third heaven. And I know that this man -- still in the body? or outside the body? I do not know, God knows- was caught up into Paradise and heard words said that cannot and may not be spoken by any human being. On behalf of someone like that I am willing to boast, but I am not going to boast on my own behalf except of my weaknesses; and then, if I do choose to boast I shall not be talking like a fool because I shall be speaking the truth. But I will not go on in case anybody should rate me higher than he sees and hears me to be, because of the exceptional greatness of the revelations. Wherefore, so that I should not get above myself, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to batter me and prevent me from getting above myself. About this, I have three times pleaded with the Lord that it might leave me; but he has answered me, 'My grace is enough for you: for power is at full stretch in weakness.' It is, then, about my weaknesses that I am happiest of all to boast, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me; and that is why I am glad of weaknesses, insults, constraints, persecutions and distress for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is a crucial passage of the letter. Paul reveals an extraordinary spiritual experience without delineating the content that he has not even fully understood. It is strange that the apostle does not speak in the first person anymore, but of "a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows" (v.2). He does not describe in detail the experience which he has not even fully understood. The mysterious encounter he was almost dispossessed of himself: it is not the carnal I who speaks but "a man in Christ." That encounter changed him deeply so that he says in another occasion: "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). The Christian is on the path of the identification in Christ. It is a spiritual journey that continues for our entire life till its fulfilment. A full and saved life is nothing other than communion with Christ. At this point the apostle splits his defence. He boasts about the man who allowed himself to be seized by Christ, "but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses" (v.5). The Apostle then reveals to the Corinthians a personal experience of weakness that was quite weakening him: the "thorn" in the "flesh." We do not know exactly what the apostle refers to, but the consequences must have been so hard that three times he asked the Lord to be freed of it. Paul, however, received God's answer that allowed him to build his life not on his own wisdom and strength, but on the power that comes from the Lord: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (v.9). The apostle discovered that, precisely in the weakness of his life in service of the Gospel, the strength of the Lord was manifested. This is a great spiritual and pastoral lesson often, sadly, often rejected. So many times in our lives weakness and difficulty become a reason to withdraw from the Gospel or constitute a justification for not being committed. But it is precisely in weakness that the disciple discovers the extraordinary strength of the Lord and of his grace.
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
