Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 15,18-21
If the world hates you, you must realise that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice of you has drawn you out of the world, that is why the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But it will be on my account that they will do all this to you, because they do not know the one who sent me.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After speaking of the intimate relationship of love that runs between his disciples and himself, Jesus turns to speaking of the hatred the disciples will be subjected to in the world by the force of evil. There is, in effect, a deep and radical irreconcilability between the gratuitous love of the true disciple of Jesus and the worldly logic that always seeks profit, or at least some kind of exchange in every situation. This does not mean that we should be strangers to the reality that surrounds us or that we should aspire to be completely detached from it. We continue to be citizens of this world, but, as an ancient Christian document, the Letter to Diognetus, says, we are at the same time strangers to its mentality. We are placed in this reality, but we are as pilgrims that walk toward the goal of a different reality, a better one. To scrupulously confront ourselves, our habits, our usual behaviour with the Lord’s teachings is the only way to understand whether we are children of God or of the mentality of this world. Only if we walk on the path of Gospel love will we be signs of contradiction for the world. Jesus came to free men and women from that slavery which makes them victims of evil. Jesus engaged in a real battle against evil and its power over men and women. Obviously, the disciples, with Jesus, will receive the same hostility that struck him down. The disciples who live the Gospel become signs of the Lord himself. Whoever welcomes them and imitates their example, welcomes and imitates Jesus himself. And whoever despises the disciple despises Jesus himself. This was revealed to Paul on the way to Damascus. The Lord told him, "Saul why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4). In this question the tight bond between Jesus and the disciples, including us, is illustrated clearly. And it explains why there is still opposition to Christians today. The Gospel message always remains as an alternative to the egocentric mentality of the world.
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
