Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 John 2, 12-17
I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven through his name.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the One who has existed since the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the Evil One.
I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, parents, because you have come to know the One who has existed since the beginning. I have written to you, young people, because you are strong, and God's word remains in you, and you have overcome the Evil One.
Do not love the world or what is in the world. If anyone does love the world, the love of the Father finds no place in him,
because everything there is in the world -- disordered bodily desires, disordered desires of the eyes, pride in possession -- is not from the Father but is from the world.
And the world, with all its disordered desires, is passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains for ever.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle speaks to all believers with a solemn three part address. He calls them "children" because they were all born in faith from him, but also "fathers’ because they themselves need to bear new believers for the Church, and also, "young people," that is, strong people, because by keeping the Word of God in themselves they have defeated the power of the evil one. John invites believers not to love the world nor the things of the world because in doing so they will distance themselves from the love of God. In John’s language the world does not refer to creation as such, but to earthly reality in so far as it is subjugated to the power of the evil one (cf. Jn 12:31), and so opposed to the Kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of love and peace. It echoes the opposition set forth by Jesus, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Mt 6:24). The "world" in this sense opposes and creates obstacles to the disciples as it did to Jesus himself. Already in the Prologue of the Gospel of John "world" and "darkness" are joined while Jesus is the light that comes in the world. The believer must be careful not to let him or herself be overwhelmed by the power of the evil one, which takes root in the heart through the concupiscence of the flesh that inevitably leads to doing evil. The apostle Paul writes to the Galatians, "Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh" (gal 5:16-17). John explains it by writing that the concupiscence of the flesh manifests itself in the "desire of the eyes, the pride in riches." Whoever lets him or herself be guided by these instincts distances him or herself from God and is overwhelmed by the transience of the world. John reminds his readers that the world passes away, just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "The present form of this world is passing away"(1 Cor 7:31). Whoever does the will of God will instead "live forever", that is, will abide in love.
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
