In the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere the Community of Sant'Egidio prays for the sick. Read more
In the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere the Community of Sant’Egidio prays for the sick.
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 3,7-10
Children, do not let anyone lead you astray. Whoever acts uprightly is upright, just as he is upright. Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil, since the devil has been a sinner from the beginning. This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil. No one who is a child of God sins because God's seed remains in him. Nor can he sin, because he is a child of God. This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil: whoever does not live uprightly and does not love his brother is not from God.
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 reminds his readers that Jesus came to free us from iniquity that enslaves those who do not stay linked to the Gospel. In this passage from his Letter, sin understood as "iniquity" refers not so much to individual faults that each of us can commit because of our weakness, but rather to the condition of those who live without love, who distance themselves from the Gospel and the life of the community. Iniquity, according to the apostle, is the opposite of "abiding" in Christ. This is why John can say, whoever abides in him does not sin. Yes, to stay linked to Christ means to be empowered by his sap, and then bear good fruit. But a steadfast and salvific relationship with Jesus guarantees, in a way, impeccability. Not that we do not fall into sins, but believers, welcoming the love of God, have already radically defeated evil and are already living in communion with God and with others. This is why they "cannot sin." Obviously John does not intend to encourage an attitude of foolish pride in the disciples, but he wants to encourage them to understand the strength that can be attained if we live in communion with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters. Even though we are all sinners, believers have a "divine seed" that guides them on the way of love and prevents the forces of evil to overwhelm and engulf them in its coils. John insists: No one born of God sins because the love of God abides in him or her by the Spirit. And the Spirit helps us do the works of God. Therefore God’s children distance themselves from the children of iniquity. The latter, in fact, do not practice justice; they do not observe the only commandment of love that leads to communion with God and with brothers and sisters. In love true justice is manifested.
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
