Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
2 Timothy 4, 1-8
Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom:
proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement -- but do all with patience and with care to instruct.
The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes;
and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths.
But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfil the service asked of you.
As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart.
I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith;
all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
As the letter nears its conclusion, Paul seems to be becoming more and more persistent in his instructions to Timothy. He is concerned for the fate of the community and wants his disciple to be up to the task of guiding it. He is not afraid of putting the gravity of the situation right before his eyes, so much so that he begins his recommendations with a solemn oath (1 Tim 5:21). He puts before his eyes God and the Lord Jesus, the supreme Judge. The apostle reminds Timothy of Jesus’ eternal judgment - Jesus will judge "the living and the dead" - and of his work as pastor of the community. The first work he urges is the proclamation of the "message." No human consideration should condition the preaching of the Gospel. It does not matter whether it is accepted by men and women or not; it is not important whether the time, the manner, or the circumstances of preaching find favour with men and women. Paul says of himself, "For an obligation is laid on me. And woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). The preacher has the task to make the Gospel reach the hearts of men and women; this is why he should be full of benevolence and not harshness. The preachers need that love, of which Paul says, "love is patient; love is not envious; it is not irritable or resentful; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor 13:4-7). The communication of the Gospel is needed today, because "distressing times" (3:1) of division and wandering are drawing near. And Timothy needs to show temperance and present the Gospel message with prudence, clarity, but also with firmness. Preaching the Word of God entails suffering and humiliation, as Paul’s own life demonstrates. Paul is writing with death before his eyes; he knows the time is coming when his blood will be poured out like a libation offered to God in martyrdom. His death will be a "return" to the Lord. He turns his gaze back to the race of his life; it has been a "fight," but has guarded and preserved the faith in Christ. He has been a "servant of Christ and steward of God’s mysteries" (1 Cor 4:1), and has kept the faith that "is required of stewards" (1 Cor 4:2). Therefore it is with sure hope that he can wait for "the crown of righteousness," like a runner who has reached the finish line a victor. "On that day," the Lord will grant him the crown of victory as the prize for a life lived in service of God and his Church. He knows that he will receive this crown of victory alone, but together with the disciples "who have longed for his appearing." Once again, Paul ties the life of the disciple to the life of the community, maintaining that the crown we will receive begins on earth with the brothers and sisters of the family of God.
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
