Memorial of Saint John XXIII. Read more
Memorial of Saint John XXIII.
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
Galatians 5,1-6
Christ set us free, so that we should remain free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be fastened again to the yoke of slavery. I, Paul, give you my word that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. I give my assurance once again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law; once you seek to be reckoned as upright through the Law, then you have separated yourself from Christ, you have fallen away from grace. We are led by the Spirit to wait in the confident hope of saving justice through faith, since in Christ Jesus it is not being circumcised or being uncircumcised that can effect anything -- only faith working through love.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After showing that justice does not come from the works of the law but by faith, Paul wants to draw the moral consequences for a Christian life. The apostle affirms that Christ has freed us for freedom, that is so that we might live free. This is why Paul urges us to "stand firm", that is, to remain free and not to fall under the "yoke of slavery." With authoritative language Paul warns the Galatians not to be circumcised, because in so doing they would nullify the Gospel of freedom. Christians who are circumcised put themselves on the path of justification through the law. They not only exclude themselves from the help of Christ and fall back under the curse of the law, but, they break all ties and are cut off from Christ, "in which" they were united by baptism (3:27ff). The term used by Paul to express the cut off’ from Christ, also contains the concept of going to ruin, that is of annihilating oneself. Those seeking justice through the law seal their own ruin, while those who follow the Gospel live of the Spirit. Therefore it is not circumcision’ or not circumcision’ that saves; that is, we are saved not by works but by the Spirit working in us. This is why Paul affirms that "faith works through love." Faith and love are inextricably linked: the second makes the first operative and the first makes the heart welcome the second. Paul cannot understand why the Galatians who first ran so well had their path interrupted. He reminds them that a few words contrary to the Gospel are enough to threaten negatively one’s entire life. Faced with this possibility, Paul trusts in the Lord: he is confident that the Galatians will repent, and he hopes that his letter will convince them. Very severe is the judgment on those who endanger the spiritual life of the community: they will incur God’s punishment.
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
