Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Romans 5, 12-15.17-19.20-21
Well then; it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.
Sin already existed in the world before there was any law, even though sin is not reckoned when there is no law.
Nonetheless death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was not the breaking of a commandment, as Adam's was. He prefigured the One who was to come . . .
There is no comparison between the free gift and the offence. If death came to many through the offence of one man, how much greater an effect the grace of God has had, coming to so many and so plentifully as a free gift through the one man Jesus Christ!
It was by one man's offence that death came to reign over all, but how much greater the reign in life of those who receive the fullness of grace and the gift of saving justice, through the one man, Jesus Christ.
One man's offence brought condemnation on all humanity; and one man's good act has brought justification and life to all humanity.
Just as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience are many to be made upright.
When law came on the scene, it was to multiply the offences. But however much sin increased, grace was always greater;
so that as sin's reign brought death, so grace was to rule through saving justice that leads to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This passage from the Letter to the Romans puts the Christian story into the wider context of human history. The Apostle wants to show the strength and universality of Jesus’ love. His story concerns the whole of humanity. He therefore speaks of Adam as a reminder that all men and women are sinners and therefore subject to the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death. In fact, sin is not just a wicked act, a self-contained action limited in time. Sin is characterized by being weak and limited because of the pride and self-sufficiency rooted in our heart; these keep us far from God and leave us prey to the prince of evil. This is the mystery of the "original sin," the sin that Adam left as an inheritance for all humanity. Both humanity and creation are marked by a state of sin. And we are all, humanity and creation, waiting for a new birth. Paul affirms that, just as all men and women experienced condemnation through the work of one man, Adam, now all can obtain salvation by means of one man, Jesus Christ. He is the one who, out of love, took on himself all of the sadness, violence, desperation, strife, and death that weigh down the life of humanity. With his death Jesus destroyed every death, and with his resurrection he opened the way of justice and peace. The disciples are called to give thanks for this mystery, which God has hidden from the wise and powerful but revealed to the little ones. We are all drawn into this mystery by grace, so that we might be authoritative witnesses of it in the world.
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
