Memorial of the apostles Philip and James. Read more
Memorial of the apostles Philip and James.
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
1 Corinthians 15,1-8
I want to make quite clear to you, brothers, what the message of the gospel that I preached to you is; you accepted it and took your stand on it, and you are saved by it, if you keep to the message I preached to you; otherwise your coming to believe was in vain. The tradition I handed on to you in the first place, a tradition which I had myself received, was that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried; and that on the third day, he was raised to life, in accordance with the scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas; and later to the Twelve; and next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared to me too, as though I was a child born abnormally.
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 the Apostles Philip and James, and Paul writing to the Corinthians recalls that the risen Jesus "appeared to James, then to all the apostles." From Easter and the appearances of the Risen One, begins that preaching of the Gospel that is transmitted from generation to generation. And Paul remembers passing on to the Corinthians that very same Gospel that he himself had received.
Between this welcoming and communicating the Easter of the Resurrection lies the heart of the Gospel and the secret of the Christian life. And the Apostles Philip and James are remembered by tradition as generous disciples who were among the first to respond to Jesus' call. Philip was a Galilean from Bethsaida, a fisherman like Peter, and it was he who enthusiastically called Nathanael - Bartholomew. And it was he himself who brought to Jesus the question of the Greeks who wanted to see him in Jerusalem (Jn 12:20-22). In particular, the Gospel of John shows him to us as a missionary who questions and is questioned by the people who want to see Jesus. Tradition has him evangelising Asia and Phrygia, where he will die a martyr. James, on the other hand, also called the 'Lesser' so as not to confuse him with the other James, brother of John, son of Zebedee, will die a martyr in Jerusalem in 62AD, among the first to give his life for the Gospel. "If Christ had not risen, our faith would be in vain." Paul names the eyewitnesses: those to whom the risen Jesus appeared, even adding "more than five hundred brothers and sisters" most of whom, Paul says, were still living in his day. We too, who may consider ourselves the last of this long chain of resurrection witnesses, are called to immerse ourselves in this witness of faith and love. We believe in the resurrection not by our words, but by our lives. And the resurrected body of Christ today is in the members of his disciples, those members that we also are by living his love in this world.
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
