EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the apostles
Word of god every day

Memory of the apostles

Memorial of the apostle Barnabas, companion of Paul in Antioch and on his first apostolic journey. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the apostles
Monday, June 11

Memorial of the apostle Barnabas, companion of Paul in Antioch and on his first apostolic journey.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Acts 11,19-26

Those who had scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching also to the Greeks, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus to them. The Lord helped them, and a great number believed and were converted to the Lord. The news of them came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas out to Antioch. There he was glad to see for himself that God had given grace, and he urged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with heartfelt devotion; for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. And a large number of people were won over to the Lord. Barnabas then left for Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. And it happened that they stayed together in that church a whole year, instructing a large number of people. It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians'.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Today the Church remembers Barnabas. A native of Cyprus, he lived in Jerusalem where he embraced the Gospel, becoming a model disciple: he had sold all his possessions and placed the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. They sent Barnabas to Antioch, the third capital of the Roman Empire, where the Gospel was preached not only to Jews, but also to pagans: for the first time, the community was composed not only of disciples of Jewish origin. The apostles chose Barnabas, precisely to help with the organization of this new and promising community. It was in this city that Jesus' disciples were for the first time called "Christians," probably because the significant entry of pagans markedly distinguished this new community from the Jewish ones. One of the great cities of the empire, in its complicated and hectic life, it saw the emergence of a new light, which gave hope to many. On learning of Paul's conversion, Barnabas invited him to Antioch to give witness before every one of his transforming encounter with Jesus. And Barnabas also brought Paul to Jerusalem to present him to the other apostles and to have him defend the preaching of the Gospel to pagans, without having them submit to circumcision. Together with Paul, Barnabas undertakes the first great apostolic journey. His nephew, John Mark, a young witness of the Lord's passion, also accompanies them. The Christian community, obedient to the action of the Spirit, let itself be guided beyond its walls in order to communicate the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Those Christians overcame the temptation that always recurs, even in our days, to enfold ourselves, to stop in our own gates, to give in to the temptation of self-reference: they accepted Jesus' exhortation to preach the Gospel to every creature as far as the extreme peripheries of the earth. It is the continuation of Jesus' very mission. The Church's mission to communicate the Gospel does not arise out of human planning or the desire for expansion. It is the Spirit of the Lord, promised by Jesus to the apostles and those who would follow them, that impels the disciples of every age to travel the pathways of the world and of human hearts to communicate the Gospel of love. Today, too, the Christian communities should listen to the Spirit, and they will once again hear the voice which says, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." And each one can apply to him or herself this invitation of the Lord, for the disciple is always sent, always in mission.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR