Memorial of Saint Philip Neri (+1595), "apostle of Rome." Többet
Memorial of Saint Philip Neri (+1595), "apostle of Rome."
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 18,1-8
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he met a Jew called Aquila whose family came from Pontus. He and his wife Priscilla had recently left Italy because an edict of Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome. Paul went to visit them, and when he found they were tentmakers, of the same trade as himself, he lodged with them, and they worked together. Every Sabbath he used to hold debates in the synagogues, trying to convert Jews as well as Greeks. After Silas and Timothy had arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted all his time to preaching, declaring to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. When they turned against him and started to insult him, he took his cloak and shook it out in front of them, saying, 'Your blood be on your own heads; from now on I will go to the gentiles with a clear conscience.' Then he left the synagogue and moved to the house next door that belonged to a worshipper of God called Justus. Crispus, president of the synagogue, and his whole household, all became believers in the Lord. Many Corinthians when they heard this became believers and were baptised.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul, troubled by his experience in Athens, yet does not think that the Greeks are so far from God and so satisfied with themselves that they are impervious to the Gospel. He leaves the capital and goes towards Corinth, another cosmopolitan city, famous for its commercial harbour. Once in the city, Paul goes towards the house of Aquila and Priscilla, a Christian couple who had been cast out from Rome due to an edict issued by the emperor Claudius against the Jews. The Roman administration did not make any distinction between the Jews and Christians. Paul stays with this family and works with them to earn his living. Luke summarizes well Paul's actions: "He was occupied with proclaiming the Word." It is an indication that should question today's Christian communities and urge them to a greater generosity in communicating the Gospel both by proclaiming and witnessing it. Paul felt the urgency of evangelization and lived it with true passion. And there was no lack of fruits: even Crispus, the head of the synagogue, converted. Corinth then became home to a large community composed of merchants, sailors, slaves and freed men and women, in essence, a community of people from the harbour. The community was lively and dynamic, but also complex, with some problems that came from trying to live together. Bu they felt one people. And yet, with all their limits, those Christians were a true spiritual body, a concrete sign of hope not only for the people of the harbour, but also for the entire city of Corinth. This is what is asked of Christian communities, which today are often a small minority in our complex and pluralistic cities: to be a house of peace and leaven of love that ferment the entire city in its various aspects. The Letter to Diognetus speaks of the Christian community as the soul of the city. It is the sense of the Church "going out" that Pope Francis never ceases to recall. The Church - every Christian community - does not live for itself, but to be "a sign and instrument of the unity of the human race" (Second Vatican Council).
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!
