Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi. Remembrance of the dedication of the Primavalle "chapel"; the first place of prayer of the community of Sant'Egidio in the outskirts of Rome. On October 4, 1992, the peace treaty that put an end to the war in Mozambique was signed in Rome. Prayer for all those who work for peace.
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Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi. Remembrance of the dedication of the Primavalle "chapel"; the first place of prayer of the community of Sant’Egidio in the outskirts of Rome. On October 4, 1992, the peace treaty that put an end to the war in Mozambique was signed in Rome. Prayer for all those who work for peace.
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
Mark 10, 2-16
Some Pharisees approached him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' They were putting him to the test.
He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?'
They replied, 'Moses allowed us to draw up a writ of dismissal in cases of divorce.'
Then Jesus said to them, 'It was because you were so hard hearted that he wrote this commandment for you.
But from the beginning of creation he made them male and female.
This is why a man leaves his father and mother,
and the two become one flesh. They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh.
So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.'
Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this,
and he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her.
And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.'
People were bringing little children to him, for him to touch them. The disciples scolded them,
but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'
Then he embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.
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
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
