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
Acts 17,15.22-18,1
Paul's escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. So Paul stood before the whole council of the Areopagus and made this speech: 'Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because, as I strolled round looking at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknown God you revere is the one I proclaim to you. 'Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he in need of anything, that he should be served by human hands; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything -- including life and breath -- to everyone. From one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their habitation. And he did this so that they might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him; and indeed he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: We are all his children. 'Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man. 'But now, overlooking the times of ignorance, God is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged in uprightness by a man he has appointed. And God has publicly proved this by raising him from the dead.' At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, 'We would like to hear you talk about this another time.' After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Aeropagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Paul came to Athens. Although it was no longer as prosperous a city as it was in the days of Plato, Athens was still a large capital. Paul did not begin challenging the Athenians immediately after arriving in the city. He preferred to follow the crowds through the agora and the market in order to understand the mind-set of the Athenians. It was a very delicate challenge, and Paul knew it. Therefore he wanted to understand the culture, the customs, the feelings, and the life of the Athenians. The great question in Paul's heart was clear: could Jerusalem conquer Athens? Could the Gospel nourish the culture of the Areopagus? It is the same question we ask ourselves when faced with the many "Areopaguses" of this world, the many cultures that inhabit this planet and pass through the hearts and minds of men and women. The audacity of Paul, who courageously stands before the wise people of Athens, shows that no "Areopagus", no culture, is foreign to the preaching of the Gospel. Rather, the "Areopaguses" of today are waiting for disciples who have the wisdom and the strength to proclaim the salvation that comes from Jesus. This is the great challenge that we cannot avoid, because the Gospel alone can make the world in which we live more human. Paul starts his speech mentioning the altar to the unknown god he noticed in his touring the city. The apostle says that he came to proclaim the name of that God. The "unknown god" was well beyond reason. There was - and there is - a discontinuity between the Gospel and the two cultures. The discontinuity is the scandal of the cross and the gift of the resurrection. Paul will write to the Corinthians, and we don't know whether it was also after his defeat in Athens, saying: "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1Cor 2:1-4). The core of Christian proclamation, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, is an extraordinary and unexpected gift that the Lord gave to humanity and it is "beyond" the expectations of reason, though it is not against it. Perhaps the apostle was hoping that those wise people would welcome the mystery of the resurrection of the flesh. With his speech he brought them to its threshold. But right at that moment the Athenians interrupted him and said: "We will hear you again about this." Paul's disappointment was great but maybe he remembered Jesus' words: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants" (Mt 11:25).
Modlitwa jest sercem życia Wspólnoty Sant’Egidio, jej pierwszym „dziełem”. Na zakończenie dnia każda Wspólnota, niezależnie czy mała czy duża, zbiera się wokół Pana, aby słuchać Jego Słowa i zanosić do Niego swe prośby. Uczniowie nie mogą uczynić więcej niż siąść u stóp Jezusa jak Maria z Betanii, aby wybrać „najlepszą cząstkę” (Łk 10, 42) i uczyć się jak mieć te same co On uczucia (por. Flp 2,1-5).
Wracając do Pana za każdym razem Wspólnota czyni własną prośbę anonimowego ucznia: "Panie, naucz nas się modlić!” (Łk 11, 1). I Jezus, nauczyciel modlitwy, nieprzerwanie odpowiada: „Kiedy się modlicie, mówcie: Ojcze nasz”.
Kiedy człowiek się modli, także w cichości własnego serca, nigdy nie jest odizolowany od innych czy opuszczony: zawsze jest członkiem rodziny Pana. W modlitwie wspólnotowej poza tajemnicą usynowienia jasno ukazuje się również tajemnica braterstwa.
Wspólnoty Sant’Egidio rozsiane po świecie zbierają się w różnych miejscach wybranych na modlitwę i przynoszą Panu nadzieje i cierpienia „znękanych i porzuconych tłumów”, o których mówi Ewangelia (por. Mt 9, 36-37). Należą do tych tłumów także mieszkańcy współczesnych miast, ubodzy zepchnięci na margines życia, wszyscy ci, którzy oczekują, że zostaną najęci choć na dzień (por. Mt 20).
Modlitwa Wspólnoty gromadzi wołania, dążenia, pragnienia pokoju, uzdrowienia, poczucia sensu i zbawienia, którymi żyją mężczyźni i kobiety tego świata. Modlitwa nigdy nie jest pusta. Nieustannie wznosi się do Pana, aby płacz zmienił się w radość, desperacja w pogodę ducha, przygnębienie w nadzieję, samotność w zjednoczenie. I aby Królestwo Boże jak najszybciej zamieszkało między ludźmi.
