Feast of the Saint Apostles Peter and Paul, martyrs in Rome around the years 60-70. Memorial of blessed Raymond Lullo (1232-1316). A Catalan close to the spirit of Saint Francis he loved the Muslims and promoted dialogue among believers. Read more
Feast of the Saint Apostles Peter and Paul, martyrs in Rome around the years 60-70. Memorial of blessed Raymond Lullo (1232-1316). A Catalan close to the spirit of Saint Francis he loved the Muslims and promoted dialogue among believers.
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
Matthew 16,13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But you,' he said, 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'
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 we celebrate the feast of the apostles, Saints Peter and Paul. It is a feast that accompanies the history of the Church in particular the Christian community of Rome, where the two disciples witnessed to their faith till martyrdom in the last years of their lives. Jesus called Peter while he was mending his nets along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He was a simple fisherman, but he felt the desire of a new world. Indeed, as soon as Jesus called him to a greater life and to fish for people and not fish, "immediately he left his net and followed him." But the true Peter - the disciple to whom Jesus entrusted his flock - is the one who is weak, who lets the Spirit of God touch him, and who is the first of all to proclaim, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God," (Mt 16:16) as we heard in the Gospel. The Lord made of Peter's weakness the "rock" of the spiritual building of which we are all part of.
We see Paul as a young man standing near those who are stoning Stephen. He was standing guard over the cloaks of those who were casting the stones. He was a zealous combatant against the young Christian community and asked even to be authorized to persecute it. But on the road to Damascus, the Lord threw him down from his self-assuredness and pride. Finding himself face down in the dust, he looked up to heaven and saw the Lord who told him: "Why do you persecute me?" Paul felt his heart touched. Tears did not flow from his eyes, but they stayed close. And he allowed others to lead him to Damascus where, after listening to the Gospel, opened his eyes again and started to preach the Gospel that tears down the walls of division: there was no more Jew or Greek, slave or a freeman.
On today's feast, the Church remembers them together as if to compose their precious testimony in unity. Both of them, with their different riches, with their charisma, marked the one Church of Christ. Today, when borders are once again forming in the hearts of so many, separating one from the other, their witness does not cease to preach that boundless love that alone can save our world. We need the strength of Peter's faith and the universality of Paul's faith to show everyone the way to salvation.
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
