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
John 6,30-35
So they said, 'What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Jesus answered them: In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 'Sir,' they said, 'give us that bread always.' Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
"What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus had reproached the crowds for seeking to fulfil only their own satisfaction. Jesus responded to their request not asking that they do many things, as the Pharisees were prescribing, but one only necessary thing: believe in the one sent by God. But the people ask him again and want to obtain yet another more extraordinary sign that will confirm that he is indeed sent by God. Perhaps they wanted Jesus to solve the problem of food, not just for the five thousand who had just benefited from the miracle, but for the entire people of Israel as had happened at the time of the manna. The memory of the manna had remained very much alive in Israel's tradition. It was at the coming of the Messiah that the people expected the repetition of this miracle. Jesus responds to their insistent request that it was not Moses who gave them the bread from heaven, but "it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Jesus, by saying "true bread," interprets manna as a sign of the new bread that would come with the Messiah. This new bread, "the bread of God" that comes from heaven, is Jesus himself. But the hardness of the hearts and minds of Jesus' listeners do not allow them to profoundly understand Jesus' words; they continue to understand them from the starting point of themselves, from their needs and instincts. They do not understand what Jesus truly wants to say. This happens to us when we do not enter deeply into the words of the Gospel because we would rather listen to them from our viewpoint rather than what they really want to tell us. A "spiritual" reading of the Bible is needed, that is, a reading done in a prayerful mode and an open heart. Sacred Scripture must be listened to with the help of the Spirit and in communion with brothers and sisters. Without prayer, we risk having before us, not the Lord speaking to us, but our own egos. And without the community of brothers and sisters our "ego" prevents us from the broad dialogue for which the Bible was written. At this point the crowd's request is correct: "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus does not withdraw and even more clearly he affirms, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." It is a solemn affirmation, typical of the Gospel of John. With this expression Jesus shows his divine origin. Reading the fourth Gospel we see that Jesus employs many concrete images to make us understand his immense love for us. He is the true bread, the true life, the truth, the light, the gate, the good shepherd, the vine, the living water...he is the resurrection.
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
