We remember Saint Augustine (†430), Bishop of Hippo (present day in Algeria) and a Doctor of the Church. Read more
We remember Saint Augustine (†430), Bishop of Hippo (present day in Algeria) and a Doctor of the Church.
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
1 Thessalonians 2,9-13
You remember, brothers, with what unsparing energy we used to work, slaving night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you while we were proclaiming the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, that our treatment of you, since you believed, has been impeccably fair and upright. As you know, we treated every one of you as a father treats his children, urging you, encouraging you and appealing to you to live a life worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and his glory. Another reason why we continually thank God for you is that as soon as you heard the word that we brought you as God's message, you welcomed it for what it really is, not the word of any human being, but God's word, a power that is working among you believers.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Remembering the beginning of the community in Thessalonica, Paul shows that those moments were a time if edification through a patient pastoral work and using all the available energies and time. He usually started his apostolic activity in the late evening as during the day he was working with "his own hands" to earn his living and "not to be a burden to anyone." He wanted to avoid any suspicion of flattery or personal greed (see 2:3-5) in order to make his preaching worth of trust. Therefore he can admonish, urge, encourage and plead efficaciously that the Thessalonians may be worth of God and participate in His kingdom. Paul compares his love to fatherly love: "As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God." Paul's awareness of his paternity makes him responsible of the growth of the faith of those who were entrusted to him. This is why he urges, encourages and pleads them. Their growth is his consolation. Not by chance here the apostle speaks again about the meaning of his preaching. There is a close connection between preaching of the Word of God and paternity. In the Church preaching is not aimed to amaze or raise admiration. Hing is aimed to bring to the threshold of the heart those who listen to the Word of God so that it may enter the hearts and transform them. This is the meaning of the deep difference between human and divine word: preaching is not a rhetorical exercise but exactly bringing to the hearts of the listeners - and the preacher must listen himself first - the Word of God, light for our steps and strength of love to transform the world
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
