Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 16,5-11
but now I am going to the one who sent me. Not one of you asks, 'Where are you going?' Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this. Still, I am telling you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgement: about sin: in that they refuse to believe in me; about who was in the right: in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; about judgement: in that the prince of this world is already condemned.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Saint Augustine comments on this part of the speech by making Jesus himself say: "It is good for you that this form of servant should move away from you; it is true, I live among you as the Word made flesh, but I do not want you to continue to remain attached to me in a sensitive way; I do not want you, satisfied with this milk, to wish to remain always children. If I do not take away from you the delicate food with which I have bred you, you will not feel the desire for a more solid food; if with carnal mentality you remain attached to the flesh, you will never be able to receive the Spirit." For Jesus it is time to inaugurate the time of faith. We must not think that our time is poorer than that of the apostles. The Holy Spirit poured into the hearts of the disciples decides the time of the Church. It is the Spirit who sustains the disciples, who consoles them, comforts them, protects them, enlightens them and makes them capable of communicating the Gospel of love to transform the world. The Spirit will help the disciples in the difficult times they face. The Spirit "will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement." The evangelist imagines a great assembly where the evil that works in the world to destroy it is revealed and unmasked. It is the task that the disciples must live by letting themselves be guided by the Spirit. There is a need to consume the eyes in scrutinizing the world and history in the light of Scriptures with the help of the Spirit in order to be able to identify the evil that operates in the world, to defeat it and to take the paths of love that save the world. This is the grave and fascinating task that Christians still have today: to be prophets who unmask evil and who first and foremost point the way to good by their example. One of them, Archbishop Oscar Romero, speaks still today. He read the dramatic history of his time in the light of the Word of God. Certainly, it cost him martyrdom, but his testimony is still very precious today. Faced with the accusations made against him, he replied that he did nothing but read history in the light of the Gospel: "The word is like the ray of sun that comes from above and illuminates. What fault does the sun have when its purest light meets puddles, excrement, garbage on this earth? It must illuminate these things, otherwise it would not be sun, it would not be light, it would not highlight the ugly and the horrible that exists on earth."
Doa merupakan jantung kehidupan Komunitas Sant'Egidio dan merupakan prioritas yang paling penting. Di penghujung hari, setiap Komunitas Sant'Egidio, besar maupun kecil, akan berkumpul di sekeliling Tuhan untuk mendengarkan sabda-Nya. Sesungguhnya Sabda Allah dan doa merupakan landasan seluruh kehidupan Komunitas. Para rasul tidak bisa tidak selain tetap di sekitar kaki Yesus, seperti yang dilakukan oleh Maria dari Bethani, untuk menerima kasih dan belajar cara-Nya (Fil. 2:5).
Sehingga setiap malam, ketika Komunitas kembali ke kaki Tuhan, Komunitas mengulangi kata-kata dari rasul tak bernama: "Tuhan ajarkanlah kami cara berdoa" Yesus, Sang Guru, terus menjawab: "Ketika kamu berdoa, katakanlah: Abba, Bapa". Hal itu bukanlah satu seruan sederhana. Dengan kata-kata ini, Yesus membiarkan para murid untuk berperan serta dalam hubungan mereka sendiri dengan Bapa. Oleh sebab itu, fakta bahwa sebagai anak-anak Bapa yang bertahta di surga, muncul sebelum kata-kata yang mungkin kita ucapkan. Jadi doa di atas segalanya merupakan cara untuk menjadi manusia. Ini untuk mengatakan bahwa kita anak-anak yang berpaling kepada Bapa dengan iman, dan yakin bahwa hal itu akan didengar.
Yesus mengajar kita memanggil Allah dengan sebutan "Bapa Kami" Tidak hanya "Bapa" atau "Bapaku" Para murid, meskipun mereka berdoa dengan cara mereka, tidak pernah terisolasi tidak juga menjadi yatim; mereka selalu menjadi anggota keluarga Tuhan.
Dalam doa bersama, di samping misteri anak Allah, ada juga misteri persaudaraan, seperti Bapa Gereja mengatakan: "Kamu tidak bisa memiliki Allah sebagai Bapa tanpa memiliki gereja sebagai ibu". Ketika berdoa bersama, Roh Kudus menyatukan para rasul di ruangan atas bersama dengan Maria, Bunda Allah, sehingga mereka dapat memusatkan pandangan mereka kepada wajah Tuhan dan belajar dari Dia rahasia hati-Nya.
Komunitas Sant'Egidio di seluruh dunia berkumpul bersama di berbagai tempat doa dan menghamparkan di hadapan Tuhan harapan dan penderitaan manusia yang lelah dan letih seperti yang di katakan oleh Injil (Mat. 9:37). Dalam kumpulan di masa lalu ini kita bisa melihat jumlah massa yang sangat besar di kota-kota modern ini, jutaan pengungsi yang terus melarikan diri dari negeri mereka, orang miskin yang terpinggirkan ke tepi kehidupan dan mereka yang menantikan seseorang yang akan merawat mereka. Berdoa bersama termasuk di dalamnya tangisan, seruan, permohonan, keinginan bagi damai, penyembuhan dan penebusan manusia di dunia ini. Doa tidak pernah sia-sia, doa terus menerus kepada Tuhan sehingga mengubah kecemasan menjadi harapan, air mata menjadi kegembiraan, putus asa menjadi kebahagiaan, dan kesepian menjadi persatuan. Semoga Kerajaan Allah hadir segera di antara manusia.
