Monday of the Angel
Memorial of St. Anselm (1033-1109), a Benedictine monk and bishop of Canterbury, who suffered exile for his love for the Church
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Monday of the Angel
Memorial of St. Anselm (1033-1109), a Benedictine monk and bishop of Canterbury, who suffered exile for his love for the Church
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 28, 8-15
Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples.
And suddenly, coming to meet them, was Jesus. 'Greetings,' he said. And the women came up to him and, clasping his feet, they did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; there they will see me.'
Now while they were on their way, some of the guards went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened.
These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers
with these instructions, 'This is what you must say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep."
And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.'
So they took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Church does not want us to leave Easter but rather urges us to remain in the day of the resurrection. The women just received the news of the resurrection from the angel who invites them to go immediately to the disciples. “So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (v.8). While they run toward the house where the disciples were, Jesus goes towards them and says to those women almost the same words of the angel: “Do not be afraid, go tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.” The Teacher wants the Gospel of the resurrection to be announced to his disciples that he calls “his brothers”, as if to underline a new familiarity with them. This invitation goes for all of the disciples so that starting from the resurrection they experience a renewed fraternity, as it was in the beginning in Galilee. Easter must represent a new rebirth for all the disciples. Nevertheless, there are those who would like to block Easter and its force for change so that everything would remain the same as always. The evangelist narrates that the religious leaders, fearful of the guards’ account, bribe them with money and convince them to lie, saying that the disciples had taken the body of Jesus while they were asleep. The Gospel presents two opposing accounts: that of two poor women against that of the more credible guards. The worldthat is, those who eliminated Jesus and his Gospelwant the tombs sealed; lies and corruption serve it well so that the news of Jesus’ resurrection will not spread. The prince of evil is willing to do anything so that the liberating Gospel of the victory of life over death, of the power of an irresistible love for others may not be revealed. Since that first Easter, anyone who announces this news may be dragged before kings and judges to be condemned. In our world there is a culture of death that spreads everywhere and at all ages and that wants to stop the power of the Resurrection. This culture solidifies with an upbringing in egoism and self-centeredness, which immediately becomes disregard for the lives of others and for those who suffer. The culture of death drugs the living, brutalizes them, and snuffs them out, so that they become slaves. The culture of death justifies the market of death: food is hidden from the hungry, drugs are given to the resigned, and weapons are sold to the angry. And people die, all over the world, by different ways, we may believe for different reasons. But the design is the same: that of the culture of death that wants men and women from an early age to be stupid and egoistic slaves. Intimidation and corruption want to silence the Gospel of life. They were not able to silence the Lord Jesus, so they killed him. They also want to silence his disciples. Let us not be afraid! The Gospel of Easter shows to us that even two poor women, completely obedient to the Gospel, are enough to overcome the intrigue of the religious leaders and to put into motion into history the dynamism of love of Jesus’ resurrection.
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
