Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Thessalonians 1, 1-10
Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonica which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace.
We always thank God for you all, mentioning you in our prayers continually.
We remember before our God and Father how active is the faith, how unsparing the love, how persevering the hope which you have from our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know, brothers loved by God, that you have been chosen,
because our gospel came to you not only in words, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with great effect. And you observed the sort of life we lived when we were with you, which was for your sake.
You took us and the Lord as your model, welcoming the word with the joy of the Holy Spirit in spite of great hardship.
And so you became an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia
since it was from you that the word of the Lord rang out -- and not only throughout Macedonia and Achaia, for your faith in God has spread everywhere. We do not need to tell other people about it:
other people tell us how we started the work among you, how you broke with the worship of false gods when you were converted to God and became servants of the living and true God;
and how you are now waiting for Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, to come from heaven. It is he who saves us from the Retribution which is coming.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is a letter Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wrote together, as if they wanted wanting to recall what the Lord had done with the Apostles (Mark 6:7) and the disciples (Luke 10:1) when he sent them out in pairs. Paul, moreover, was not an isolated protagonist. The Church is, first of all, a communion. All three together address themselves to the small community of Thessalonica, a community great not because of numbers, but because of the dignity of having been founded on "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." This dignity made that small community a blessing for Thessalonica. It was the "ekklesia," that is, the "assembly," of the community called together by God in that city. Every Christian community is a holy "assembly of God." Paul has them before his eyes while the community gathers around the banquet of agape: he sees each Christian, one by one, and yet he views it above all as a community gathered by the Lord. Paul thanks the Lord for that small community which lives with a firm faith, with a love that toils and with a constant hope. To this community, Christ could also apply his praise in the Book of revelation: "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance" (Rev 2:2). The apostle addresses believers who are "beloved by God" and therefore elected by Him. "Election" (Rom 11:28), which at one time was Israel’s privilege, is now extended also to those believers in Thessalonica through Paul’s preaching, which he has accomplished "in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." Also for them, he could say: "My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power," (1 Cor 2:4). The Lord himself, through the preaching of his disciples, changes the hearts of those who hear, and gives birth to a new life in them. The apostle knows that the service of preaching demands his personal engagement, because only then does the Lord become near and recognizable to those who hear him. This is why the Thessalonians have been able to imitate him, thus drawing near to Christ himself. The life of those in charge of the community should reflect the Gospel they proclaim; that is how their preaching will be effective. The Thessalonians were able to receive it with joy, even amidst persecutions. And they became an example for other believers who were in Macedonia and Achaia. The life of the Gospel spreads because it attracts, because it displays a better life than that offered by the world. It is the first Christian community founded on European soil, and it immediately gave rise to enthusiasm everywhere in the young communities of that area. The spread of the Gospel is not tied to pastoral techniques or sophisticated organizational means. The Gospel spreads only by the attractive power of a truly evangelical life. Paul rejoices in their faith and recounts everyone’s amazement upon learning of their response, which was conversion, leaving aside the idols of this world in order to serve the Lord alone.
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
