Memory of St. Stephen (+1038), king of Hungary. He was converted to the Gospel and promoted the evangelization of his country. Read more
Memory of St. Stephen (+1038), king of Hungary. He was converted to the Gospel and promoted the evangelization of his country.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 John 3, 19-24
This will be the proof that we belong to the truth, and it will convince us in his presence,
even if our own feelings condemn us, that God is greater than our feelings and knows all things.
My dear friends, if our own feelings do not condemn us, we can be fearless before God,
and whatever we ask we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is acceptable to him.
His commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should love one another as he commanded us.
Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle continues to insist so that the believers understand that their salvation lies in the communion with God that is to be reached through communion with their brothers and sisters. This principle is radically opposed to our instinct to concentrate on ourselves and to mind our own business, whether to exalt or reproach ourselves. These two attitudes lead to the same thing: putting our ego at the centre of our lives. Selfishness does not make people safer. On the contrary, it makes the heart more unstable, more prey to instincts and feelings. The prophet Jeremiah said it well: "The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse- who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, ..." (17:9-10). The apostle invites us to raise our eyes towards God and see how much wider his heart is than ours. The entire story of salvation reveals the greatness and generosity of God’s love, which bent down to humanity in order to save us. John reminds us that our "security" is founded on this love. For Christians, stability does not come from skills, possessions, traditions, or abilities, but only from the faith that is rooted in the faithfulness of God’s love for us. In a certain sense John proposes the only commandment of the love for God and neighbour that was manifested clearly in Jesus: "And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us." This relationship of complete trust allows us to turn to God the way children turn to their Father, sure that we will get what we ask for. And for our part, we will live how God wants us to. The apostle sums up the life of a believer: trust in Jesus, be in communion with him through the Spirit that has been given to us, and love one another as Jesus taught us.
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
