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
John 16, 12-15
I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come.
He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It seems as though Jesus does not to want to stop speaking to the disciples. By now the dinner is almost finished and he says to them, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” These words are not a reprimand. He chose them himself knowing well their limits and not hiding them. He believes though that the disciples are still incapable of bearing the whole weight of the Gospel. Certainly, the Gospel does not require sages; neither does Jesus seek powerful or strong people to entrust his mission to. Rather, he seems to do the opposite. His word, in fact, is not a sublime doctrine or a complex ideology that only a few are able to understand or deepen. From his teaching, a simple and strong energy emerges, an energy that fills the heart and transforms life. Everyone can welcome and live it. It is the energy of love. The disciples are asked only to allow it to operate, neither stop it nor pose obstacles in its way. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will “guide you to the whole truth.” It will make us discover the limits and the banalities of the dimensions in which we often enclose ourselves. The Spirit will free us from our meanness and put us in a circuit of love that makes us embrace many brothers and sisters. It will allow us to stop by the poor we meet, those who seek friendship and understanding, and to find words that touch their hearts. It will help us to defeat the logic that pushes us toward distinguishing ourselves and prevailing. Let’s allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit and we will discover the future, we will dream a different tomorrow. The Spirit, which is the source of life and inspiration, helps us to be creators with Him of that common future for all peoples and therefore also for us. In this sense there is a growth in the understanding of the Gospel. Father Alexander Men, a priest who was killed in Moscow at the beginning of the 90’s used to say that we are still at the beginning of our understanding of the Gospel; there are many words we still have to understand in all of their depth. Saint John XXIII, years before, shortly before his death said, “It is not the Gospel which changes, it is we who understand it better.” This is the work of the Spirit, today and throughout all generations.
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
