Remembrance of the Virgin Mary, venerated as Our Lady of Lujàn in Argentina. Read more
Remembrance of the Virgin Mary, venerated as Our Lady of Lujàn in Argentina.
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 16,5-11
but now I am going to the one who sent me. Not one of you asks, 'Where are you going?' Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this. Still, I am telling you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right, and about judgement: about sin: in that they refuse to believe in me; about who was in the right: in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; about judgement: in that the prince of this world is already condemned.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Lord turns to reassuring his disciples: it is true that soon they will be separated, but they will not be farther away. In fact, the love that has connected them and made them walk together all the way to Jerusalem will not end. And the new state of resurrection allows him to always be with the disciples, wherever they go. The love of Jesus, or we could say Christian love, does not end with the end of physical proximity. Jesus himself asks the disciples, after Easter, to confirm each other in the faith and to witness to the world the love that has united them to him and that which continues to guide them on his ways. The love that the Lord pours in their hearts comes down from on high; it is a special gift of God and it is an extraordinary love: living it, multiplies it and it shrinks into nothing if not practiced. Jesus told them, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf." The Spirit of love that comes from the Father is transmitted to the disciples by the Son. Its strength evokes a friendship and an affection that connects them in a stable and strong way, rendering them capable of witnessing the same strength of the Spirit. The witnessing of this love by the disciples will always provoke opposition and hostility from those that do not know him--Jesus warns them of this. And enemies will try to endanger the life of the disciples. It is the sad reality of the persecutions that still today are afflicting believers. But the disciples must not be afraid, nor should they decrease faith in their Teacher. Jesus does not leave his own without resources when confronting the blind and wicked forces of evil. He warns them, "I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling." The Lord does not abandon his own to their destinies. Certainly though, the disciples have a great responsibility: that of communicating the Gospel of gratuitous love to this our world so that it distances itself from evil.
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
