Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Galatians 3,22-29
As it is, scripture makes no exception when it says that sin is master everywhere; so the promise can be given only by faith in Jesus Christ to those who have this faith. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law, locked up to wait for the faith which would eventually be revealed to us. So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us; for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female -- for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And simply by being Christ's, you are that progeny of Abraham, the heirs named in the promise.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul reminds the Galatians that the legacy promised by God to Abraham - "I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you" (Gen 17:7) now belongs to Jesus. It is a covenant that passed also through the Law that was given to the people of Isarel on Mount Sinai. However the whole pre-Christian story, first with Abraham and then with Israel, was a long preparation for the final covenant with Jesus Christ, who saves us from sin and death. He is the sole and universal heir of the Abrahamic promises. Salvation therefore cannot come from the Law but from following Jesus Christ. Of course, the Law was not useless. It had a preparatory value. As the apostle says: "The law was our disciplinarian," but only until we were "justified by faith." Jesus' disciples are no longer under the "disciplinarian," i.e. under supervision. Once "faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian" we live in the freedom of being "in Christ Jesus ... children of God through faith." The Apostle emphasises a direct relationship with God through faith in Christ. Believers - explains the Apostle - are "clothed with Christ" through baptism, and thus become new creatures. It is in this context that the Apostle shows the Galatians the extraordinary novelty of the Gospel: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female." These few words show the strength of the Gospel of Jesus: it breaks down every separation, every wall of division. It pushes towards a new unity. The Apostle states clearly: "For all of you are one in Christ Jesus." Belonging to Christ should make us rediscover the changing power of Abraham's faith: he left everything to share in God's dream of making all humanity fraternal. In this time of globalisation, this dream of God is even more evident. And the Lord entrusts it once again into our hands.
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!
