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
Acts 8,1b-8
There were some devout people, however, who buried Stephen and made great mourning for him. Saul then began doing great harm to the church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison. Once they had scattered, they went from place to place preaching the good news. And Philip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people unanimously welcomed the message Philip preached, because they had heard of the miracles he worked and because they saw them for themselves. For unclean spirits came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The stoning of Stephen marks an important milestone in the history of the early Christian community. Jesus himself had said, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). And a few centuries later, a wise Christian, Tertullian, will say, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." In effect, the ferocious stoning of Stephen was not just targeted at him: it unleashed the persecution of the first followers of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke writes that on "that day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem." The first persecution erupts in the "birthplace" of the Christian community, as if to indicate the itinerary that must be followed by all of Jesus’ disciples. Luke emphasizes that some were able to stay in Jerusalem, while many others were forced to flee and headed to Antioch, where they began to preach the Gospel of Jesus. We should emphasize the fact that nothing can stop Christian preaching, not even persecution. And that is not all. Persecution became an opportunity to spread the Gospel even further. That is to say that the missionary dimension is inherent in Christian spirituality: the disciple, because he or she is a disciple, also becomes an apostle. Indeed, the quality of being a disciple, that is, of a radical following, leads at last to being a truly effective apostle. Consequently, at the beginning of this new millennium it is urgent for us to rediscover the "martyr’s" dimension of Christianity, that is, for us to learn to be disciples of the Gospel "to the letter," as Francis of Assisi would say and Pope Francis repeats, which fosters a missionary urgency to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Martyrdom is nothing other than testifying to Jesus’ love to the end, even at the cost of our blood. In this sense, Christian love leads to "giving one’s life" for the Gospel and for one’s brothers and sisters, especially the poorest. This is the witness of Philip, another of the seven deacons. He - an example of many other disciples of that first Church whose names we do not know - brought preaching to the region of Samaria, where new wonders were worked among the people. The Word of God grew in the hearts of many and the community grew with them. It became a festival for the entire city. That is also what the Church is called to due in this age.
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
