Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 3,1-10
Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man being carried along. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple he begged from them. Peter, and John too, looked straight at him and said, 'Look at us.' He turned to them expectantly, hoping to get something from them, but Peter said, 'I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!' Then he took him by the right hand and helped him to stand up. Instantly his feet and ankles became firm, he jumped up, stood, and began to walk, and he went with them into the Temple, walking and jumping and praising God. Everyone could see him walking and praising God, and they recognised him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were all astonished and perplexed at what had happened to him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This passage from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the first time Peter and John left the upper room to go to the temple. We could say that they were the first steps taken by the community born from Pentecost. The first steps taken by the apostles without the visible presence of the Master. Perhaps the apostles remembered Jesus’ first teachings, those reported by Mark in chapter 6: "He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits." Putting these words into practice, Peter and John go to the temple together as two. Their harmony, their love, and their shared passion for the Gospel are their first witness, their first preaching. So it is for every Christian community that wants to follow the Lord Jesus. Peter and John are the first two to move, and the Christian communities of every generation must follow in their footsteps, including our community here at the beginning of the millennium, in the year Pope Francis has announced to be the year of mercy. They arrive at the "Beautiful Gate" of the temple and see a man who has been crippled from birth. He is forty years old, and he has perhaps spent most of his life at that very spot stretching out his hand. He was outside of the temple. He was prevented from entering not only because he could not move but also because he was sick. There was a sad and cruel proverb at the that temple that said, "the blind and the lame shall not enter." And unfortunately even today many poor people (sometimes entire countries) are kept from entering, stopped at the doors of the rich to be satisfied with crumbs or with meagre charity. The lame man probably was not hoping for anything more than some alms from the two disciples who had come before him. But the mercy of God that had entered into the hearts of Peter and John performs miracles. And the crippled man does not receive alms, but healing. Peter looks him in the eyes. This is already a sign: looking someone in the eyes means descending into the person’s heart. And that is not all. He says: "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk" and at the same time he reaches out his right hand and lifts him up. The text notes he "raised him up", as if he woke him from the sleep of sadness. Those two entwined hands are like the icon of the Church born of the Gospel, as described by the Second Vatican Council, as witnessed by Pope Francis. This kind of love - the kind that flows directly from God and from the strength of the Spirit - always works miracles.
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
