Memorial of Saint Athanasius (295-373), bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. Read more
Memorial of Saint Athanasius (295-373), bishop of Alexandria in Egypt.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 14, 7-14
If you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.
Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him,
'Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works.
You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe it on the evidence of these works.
In all truth I tell you, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel we just heard continues Jesus’ speech to the disciples in the upper room. Jesus has just told them that he is the way to reach the Father in heaven. He did not leave them without direction: whoever listens and puts his word into practice reaches and knows the Father. Jesus clarifies again, “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” The verbs “to know” and “to see” relate to faitha knowing and a seeing that go beyond the visible dimension and are about the beyond of God. As if to definitively close the discussion, Philip asks, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus responds with a heartfelt reprimand, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Here we penetrate the heart of Christian faith and every religious pursuit. Jesus clearly affirms that through him we meet God, the Creator of heaven and earth. “No one has ever seen God,” writes John in his first Letter (4:12). It is Jesus who has known Him who reveals Him to us. Therefore if we want to see the face of God, we must know Jesus; if we want to know the thought of God, it is enough to know the Gospel; if we want to understand how God acts, we must observe Jesus’ behaviour. The Father of heaven is as close to the life of men and women as Jesus was: he is a God that resurrects the dead, who even makes himself a child to stay close to us, who cries when his friend dies, who walks the streets of men and women, who stops, heals, and is compassionate with everyone. He is really the Father of all. Jesus adds even bolder words that only he can say, namely, that if we remain close to him even we will accomplish the same works. Better still, Jesus says that we will accomplish even greater ones. These words are generally forgotten or rarely meditated upon. Or they seem exaggerated or unreal to us. Often it happens that we think we are more realistic or truthful than the Gospel. But in so thinking, we are following a worldly reading of the Gospel. We deny its strength. The Gospel has a power that comes from embracing the very Word of God, which always creates life and love. If we nourish ourselves with those evangelical words, our words will be strong and effective. It begins with prayer: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do.” Yes, if done in the name of Jesus our prayer is strong and powerful: it directly reaches the heart of God. And He will be almost bent by our words. But even the words of sermons, of consolation, of calling that we pronounce in the name of Jesus have the strength to change the hearts of those who listen and the society in which we live.
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
