Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 John 4, 11-18
My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.
No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us.
This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit.
We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world.
Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.
We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is.
In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John writes to Christians and explains why they should love one another: “Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” The love between Christians is not just any love; it must have the same quality, the same nature, and the same passion as the love that God has for us. In short, God is the measure of love, even the love we have for each other. But we might ask: how is it possible to live such a love if “no one has ever seen God”? Continuing his letter, John affirms that “no one has ever seen God,” but adds: “If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” In the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel, the evangelist writes: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (1:18). It is Jesus who has revealed the Father's face to us. And, in fact, looking at Jesus we can quite rightly say: “Jesus is love.” Indeed, everything about him speaks of a love that knows no limit. In this letter, John writes that if we love one another, we abide in God. He does not say that we see God, but that we abide in him as in a house, as in a home. We shall see God “face to face” at the end of the days, but we can already live with him now. And the house in which we live, or rather in which we are called to live, is love. It is the Lord who embraces us and surrounds us with his mercy and love. The Spirit sent by the Father unites us with Him and with our brothers and sisters. If we abide in this love, which we have received as a gift, then we can obey his word and love each other. This is what is meant by perfection. We are not perfect because we are without blemish, but because we allow ourselves to embrace the love of God. John concludes that this love frees us from all fear, from every distress. God is not a stern judge, but a Father who loves us to the point of giving his own Son for 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
