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
Acts 20,17-21
From Miletus he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus. When they arrived he addressed these words to them: 'You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia, how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you and instructed you both in public and in your homes, urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After getting off the ship, Paul has the elders from the community in Ephesus come to Miletus. With the testimony of his own life, Paul starts his farewell speech to those who will be responsible for the community, “You yourselves know how I lived among you.” The apostle is well aware that the “shepherds” need to be “examples to the flock.” Peter will write about it in his first letter, “Tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do itnot for sordid gain but eagerly. Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock”(1 Pet 5:2-4). Paul does not refer to his behaviour with the bishops, but rather to how he lived out the three years of ministry in Ephesus. He does not do it out of pride or self-aggrandisement, but rather to show a concrete example of shepherd. He does not start with what the shepherd should “do,” but how the shepherd should “be.” Paul synthesizes the being of the shepherd in one word: “Servant.” He says to the elders, “You yourselves know how I lived among you serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials.” Paul conceives his ministry as “service to the Lord.” He does not want to refer to specific gestures that the shepherd should perform, but to his or her way of living. The entire life of the servant should be devoted to the master; thus Jesus himself lived, He who spent his life for all. Jesus presented himself as the one “gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29). In this way he has showed us the way, even that of the communication of the Gospel. Indeed, gentleness opens the hearts and prepares them to listen to the Gospel and an encounter with God. In an apocryphal gospel Jesus says, “I came among you not as one who lays, but as the one who serves; and you grew in my service as people who serve.” Later, Paul will write to Timothy, “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness” (2 Tim 2:24-25). Humility, gentleness and affability are the characteristic of the “Lord’s servant.”
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
