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Liturgy of the Sunday
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Liturgy of the Sunday

Feast of the Saint Apostles Peter and Paul, martyrs in Rome around the years 60-70 of the 1st century.
Remembrance of blessed Raymond Lull (+1316). A Catalan close to the spirit of Saint Francis, he loved the Muslims and promoted dialogue among believers.
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Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, June 29

Feast of the Saint Apostles Peter and Paul, martyrs in Rome around the years 60-70 of the 1st century.
Remembrance of blessed Raymond Lull (+1316). A Catalan close to the spirit of Saint Francis, he loved the Muslims and promoted dialogue among believers.


First Reading

Acts 12,1-11

It was about this time that King Herod started persecuting certain members of the church. He had James the brother of John beheaded, and when he saw that this pleased the Jews he went on to arrest Peter as well. As it was during the days of Unleavened Bread that he had arrested him, he put him in prison, assigning four sections of four soldiers each to guard him, meaning to try him in public after the Passover. All the time Peter was under guard the church prayed to God for him unremittingly. On the night before Herod was to try him, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with two chains, while guards kept watch at the main entrance to the prison. Then suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. 'Get up!' he said, 'Hurry!' -- and the chains fell from his hands. The angel then said, 'Put on your belt and sandals.' After he had done this, the angel next said, 'Wrap your cloak round you and follow me.' He followed him out, but had no idea that what the angel did was all happening in reality; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed through the first guard post and then the second and reached the iron gate leading to the city. This opened of its own accord; they went through it and had walked the whole length of one street when suddenly the angel left him. It was only then that Peter came to himself. And he said, 'Now I know it is all true. The Lord really did send his angel and save me from Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.'

Psalmody

Psalm 33

Antiphon

Let us bless the Lord at all times.

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.

Glorify the Lord with me,
together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.

Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called; the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.

The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him,

Revere the Lord, you his saints.
They lack nothing, those who revere him.

Strong lions suffer want and go hungry
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.

Come, children, and hear me
that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.

Who is he who long for life
and many days to enjoy his prosperity?

Then keep your tongue from evil
and you lips from speaking deceit.

Turn aside the evil and do good;
seek and strive after peace.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.

The Lord turns his eyes to the just
and his ears to their appeal.

They call and the Lord hears
and rescues them all in their distress.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.

Many are the trials of the just man
but from them all the Lord will rescue him.

He will keep guard over all his bones,
not one of his bones shall be broken.

Evil brings death to the wicked;
those who hate the good and doomed.

The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.

Second Reading

2 Timothy 4,6-8.17-18

As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing. But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed for all the gentiles to hear; and so I was saved from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

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

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

Today we celebrate the feast of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, a memory that accompanies the story of the Church, in particular of the Roman Christian community, where the two apostles witnessed to their faith in the last years of their lives till martyrdom. Jesus called Peter while he was mending his nets along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He was an average man, 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, he immediately left his nets and followed him. But the true Peter - the disciple to whom Jesus entrusts his flock -is the one who is weak, who lets the Spirit of God touch him, and who is the first to proclaim, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). The Lord made of Peter's weakness the "rock" of the spiritual building to which we all belong. Paul, as a young man, was among those who were stoning Stephen: he was watching the stoners' coats. He was a zealous combatant against the young Christian community and was even authorized to persecute it. But on the road to Damascus, the Lord threw him down from the horse of self-assuredness and pride. While he was in the dust, he lifted up his eyes and saw the Lord who told him: "Why are you persecuting me?" Paul felt his heart touched. Tears did not flow from his eyes, but they stayed closed. He let others lead by the hand to Damascus. There, after he heard the Gospel, opened his eyes again and started preaching the Word that crashes the walls of division: there was no more Jew nor Greek, nor slave nor freeman. Today the Church remembers them together, as if to hold both of their precious testimonies together in unity. With their different richness, they have marked the one Church of Christ. While in the hearts of many, borders that separate the ones from the others form again, their witness doesn't stop to preach that borderless love that only can save the world. We need the strength of the faith of Peter and the universality of the faith of Paul to show to all the path 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!