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 20,25-31
'I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again. And so on this very day I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned, for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God's purpose. 'Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the guardians, to feed the Church of God which he bought with the blood of his own Son. 'I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard, remembering how night and day for three years I never slackened in counselling each one of you with tears.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
With verse 28, Paul changes the tone of his speech. He does not speak anymore of himself and his testimony, but rather of the responsibility for the flock entrusted to them, that is, the community that the shepherds have. In order to stress the gravity of the issue, Paul opens with a strong admonition, “Keep watch over yourselves!” The apostle wants to warn the shepherds, but also every believer, for each of us will have to respond to God, moreover to the Trinity, of any negligence against others. We should welcome Paul’s admonition with reverence and trepidation, “Keep watch over yourselves!” The salvation of each of us is connected to that of the entire community. There is obviously a specific responsibility of the shepherds towards the flock. And yet, we are all, each one in his or her own way, shepherds, that is, responsible for the life of the brothers and sisters in the community, or even more of the entire human family. The Holy Spirit makes all of us “guardians” of the flock, responsible of the life of the entire ecclesial community, of the entire Church, of all men and women. Believers are somehow dispossessed of themselves, they do not belong to themselves anymore; they are of God for the service to the Church and the world. In front of our eyes, Jesus, “the good shepherd” who gives his life for the sheep, stands out. Jesus is the true “bishop,” the one who keeps vigil and watch over the entire flock. We all need to imitate him. The words of Ignatius of Antioch in which he entrusts the church of Ephesus, of which he is bishop, to the Christians of Rome make us think, “Remember in your prayer of the Church of Syria, which has God in my place as shepherd. Only Jesus Christ will watch (episcopèsei) over it, and your charity.” (A scholar has translated it instead of “Jesus Christ will watch over it” to “Jesus Christ will be its bishop”) Jesus is the ideal shepherd. Each believer should turn his or her eyes to Jesus in order to “shepherd” the “Church of God” (v. 28). The expression is solemn and stresses that those who are part of it are “holy” because they are chosen by God. The Community belongs to God; it does not belong to us; if anything ,it is we who belong to it. But the Lord makes us its keepers.
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
