Memorial of the blessed martyrs of Algeria. Among them we remember Father Christian de Chergé, the prior of the trappiest monastery of Notre Dame de l'Atlas, in Tibhirine in Algeria; he was kidnapped and killed with six of his confreres by terrorists in 1996. Read more
Memorial of the blessed martyrs of Algeria. Among them we remember Father Christian de Chergé, the prior of the trappiest monastery of Notre Dame de l'Atlas, in Tibhirine in Algeria; he was kidnapped and killed with six of his confreres by terrorists in 1996.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 15,1-6
Then some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, 'Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.' This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the question with the apostles and elders. The members of the church saw them off, and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the gentiles had been converted, and this news was received with the greatest satisfaction by all the brothers. When they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the church and by the apostles and elders, and gave an account of all that God had done through them. But certain members of the Pharisees' party who had become believers objected, insisting that gentiles should be circumcised and instructed to keep the Law of Moses. The apostles and elders met to look into the matter,
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles is one of the key moments of the book and narrates the solution of the question that concerned the Christian community about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. Do pagans who convert to the Gospel have to submit or not to the Jewish Law? Paul and Barnabas, who had created communities that were made up primarily of Gentiles, did not think that they had to require those who had converted to Christianity to be circumcised. This practice clearly put in discussion the relationship between the communities who started from the preaching to the Gentiles and those who came from Judaism. It was particularly difficult moment for the starting Christian community. There was the risk of provoking a ripping division within the rising Christianity. It became necessary to call an assembly of all the people in charge of the communities to be held in Jerusalem. It was the "first" Council in the history of the Church. It is an example not of a judicial formula rather of a common way of living the faith, in an assembly of brothers and sisters that gathers to reflect and debate over common issues. This first assembly remains an example for the life of Christian communities in every time. The perspective that Pope Francis wants to imprint the entire Church is in this direction: synodality, before being an event, is a way of living the Church, of living in communion. Communion in love defeat the protagonist attitudes of individuals that, if left to themselves, separate and divide. In this way, difficulties, that inevitably arise along the road, are loosened and the only one Body of Christ, can be built in unity.
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
