Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 8, 1-3
Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve,
as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
As if wanting to offer a synthetic image of apostolic ministry, the evangelist shows Jesus as a travelling preacher accompanied by “The Twelve” and by some women. It is the pastoral action that the evangelist has already indicated previously: Jesus would go from city to city, from village to village to announce the good news of the kingdom. Jesus chose to have next to him not only the Twelve but also some women. It is an exemplary choice of the new style that Jesus came to establish. Only Luke takes notice of this. Those women, wrote the evangelist, “were healed from evil spirits and infirmity,” and they had chosen to follow Jesus, putting all of their goods in service of him and the disciples. In that sense they were fully part of the new group that Jesus had created, making it a true community. The evangelist’s indication here is important because it shows how much Jesus went beyond the customs of his time. In fact, it was unthinkable in the rabbinic culture of the time to let women into the circle of disciples. Contrary to this mentality, Jesus makes women part of his very mission, as we see in other gospel passages. Luke names three women: Mary of Magdala, freed from “seven demons”; Joanna, a woman close to King Herod, who was named also in the resurrection story; and Susanna of whom not much is said. They were probably wealthy women, attracted by Jesus’ preaching, who put their riches to the service of the Teacher and the small group. Already in these few lines, the primacy of discipleship appears with clarity; a discipleship which overcomes all barriers, even those which seem difficult to surpass, as mentality of the time toward women would have been. For Jesus what matters is being a disciple. Discipleship confers on each person the truest and most important dignity: that of announcing the Gospel and witnessing to the love entrusted to all the disciples, a love which goes beyond any distinction. It is a dignity and also a task-- a vocation--that makes us part of Jesus’ mission. One must not forget that the first person to whom Jesus entrusted the task of communicating the resurrection was Mary of Magdala. For this reason she is called “the apostle of the apostles” in the Orthodox tradition. These women, united with Mary the mother of Jesus, demonstrate how much the Church needs women and their “feminine genius” today and in order to show the mystery of God’s love to the world. These women question the whole Church both on its internal life and its mission about love, about giving life and about mercy and care for the Christian community.
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
