“We behave like a mother who caresses her creatures.” 1Thess.2:1-8

Today we are invited to taste in prayer the way Paul recalls his missionary activity among the Thessalonians. He speaks of his vocation as an apostle, confirmed by his sufferings in Philippi (Acts 16:16-40). He describes his effort and selflessness in preaching and the good reception they offered him. He repeats expressions such as: “you know”, “you remember”, “you are witnesses” in a kind of friendly complicity: “although you already know, I tell you”. And above all, he points out that his attitude has been one of dedication, like a loving mother, willing to give her life, because she loves them so much. Surely we have had the grace to live similar experiences in our apostolic life. Today we can bring them into our prayer and, like Paul, thank them and pray for those brothers and sisters, to whom we are united by ties that continue to nourish our faith. And we can also look at our life in mission today, to see what we learn from Paul and from those early Christian communities, which laid the foundations of the Church’s missionary life.