Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
1 Corinthians 9, 19-27
So though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people, to win as many as I could.
To the Jews I made myself as a Jew, to win the Jews; to those under the Law as one under the Law (though I am not), in order to win those under the Law;
to those outside the Law as one outside the Law, though I am not outside the Law but under Christ's law, to win those outside the Law.
To the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation.
All this I do for the sake of the gospel, that I may share its benefits with others.
Do you not realise that, though all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one of them gets the prize? Run like that -- to win.
Every athlete concentrates completely on training, and this is to win a wreath that will wither, whereas ours will never wither.
So that is how I run, not without a clear goal; and how I box, not wasting blows on air.
I punish my body and bring it under control, to avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be disqualified.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The true liberty that Paul witnesses to and proclaims to us is the liberty of making himself a “slave to all” in order to communicate the Gospel. With the strength that comes from the testimony of his life, the apostle combines two statements: even though “free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all.” Here we can sense an echo of Jesus’ own words: “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). This is not an ascetic exercise intended to perfect the soul. The apostle made himself a slave in order to win over as many people as possible to Christ. He repeats the verb “to win” five times in just a few lines, linking it to another verb, “to save.” The apostle’s heart does not beat for itself, but expands to embrace the world: “I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some.” Not only does he refuse to exclude anyone (whether Jewish or pagan), but neither does he seem to let himself rest until he has reached as many people as possible. This is his contest, his race, to which he dedicates his entire life. This witness should resound especially strongly for the Christians living at the beginning of this new millennium. Once again, Paul comes into our midst as the one who knows how to welcome the universal spirit of Jesus’ preaching and make it the foundation of his life. We could say that he was the first one to make the globalization of love a reality, defeating all close-mindedness, every boundary, and every ethnic or even religious division. The apostle wants to reach the entire world. He has Rome on his mind, the capital of the empire, and he even wants to go as far as Spain, the empire’s farthest reaches. Even today, Paul remains the example for every Christian community of how to communicate the Gospel all the way to the ends of the earth. Once again, the problem is not an external one. We do not have any definite proof that Paul made it to Spain. What counts is the universality of the heart. It is here, in our heart that boundaries and barriers must be brought down. They are traced out in the hearts and minds of people before they exist on the outside.
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
