Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
1 Timothy 5, 17-25
Elders who do their work well while they are in charge earn double reward, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.
As scripture says: You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn; and again: The worker deserves his wages.
Never accept any accusation brought against an elder unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.
If anyone is at fault, reprimand him publicly, as a warning to the rest.
Before God, and before Jesus Christ and the angels he has chosen, I charge you to keep these rules impartially and never to be influenced by favouritism.
Do not be too quick to lay hands on anyone, and never make yourself an accomplice in anybody else's sin; keep yourself pure.
You should give up drinking only water and have a little wine for the sake of your digestion and the frequent bouts of illness that you have.
The faults of some people are obvious long before they come to the reckoning, while others have faults that are not discovered until later.
Similarly, the good that people do can be obvious; but even when it is not, it cannot remain hidden.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Paul urges Timothy to be attentive to the elders. He already mentioned them (4:14) when he reminded Timothy of the day when they had laid hands on him. Paul asks Timothy to have the community reserve a "double honour" for the elders and to hold them in esteem and veneration because they have been entrusted with both preaching and teaching. Because of this, they even have a right to be economically supported in their ministry. The apostle knows how necessary their service is for the community to remain united and faithful to the Gospel. The elder himself should be aware of this and the others should respect his authority. Paul warns Timothy not to let the authority of the elders be weakened and therefore he should refrain from listening to accusations and suspicions against them. This issue is so important that it leads the apostle to use solemn words to encourage Timothy to keep these instructions with the strictest impartiality, without letting himself be influenced by personal sympathy or grudges. Paul knows that the exercise of ecclesiastic discipline in a case against an elder or leader of the community is twice as difficult for Timothy because of his age (4:12). But in cases of fault and sin, no human prudence or resentment should keep him from judging rightly and punishing; otherwise the very existence of the community would be called into question. Anxious to ensure that only worthy elders serve in the Christian community, Paul advises Timothy not to lay hands on someone "hastily," because he could be held complicit in the sins caused by that man if it turns out he is unworthy. He needs to keep himself pure, because by doing so he will be able to judge with greater wisdom. Showing the tenderness of a father, Paul, at this point, gives his disciple some advice about his health: he should no longer drink only water, but take a little wine to keep up his strength. He reminds him that only those men, whose lives are solidly rooted in the ground of the faith, morally pure and proven over time, should be allowed to lead the community.
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
