Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 Maccabees 6,1-13
King Antiochus, meanwhile, was making his way through the Upper Provinces; he had heard that in Persia there was a city called Elymais, renowned for its riches, its silver and gold, and its very wealthy temple containing golden armour, breastplates and weapons, left there by Alexander son of Philip, the king of Macedon, the first to reign over the Greeks. He therefore went and attempted to take the city and pillage it, but without success, the citizens having been forewarned. They resisted him by force of arms. He was routed, and began retreating, very gloomily, towards Babylon. But, while he was still in Persia, news reached him that the armies which had invaded Judaea had been routed, and that Lysias in particular had advanced in massive strength, only to be forced to turn and flee before the Jews; that the latter were now stronger than ever, thanks to the arms, supplies and abundant spoils acquired from the armies they had cut to pieces, and that they had pulled down the abomination which he had erected on the altar in Jerusalem, had encircled the sanctuary with high walls as in the past, and had fortified Beth-Zur, one of his cities. When the king heard this news he was amazed and profoundly shaken; he threw himself on his bed and fell sick with grief, since things had not turned out for him as he had planned. And there he remained for many days, subject to deep and recurrent fits of melancholy, until he realised that he was dying. Then, summoning all his Friends, he said to them, 'Sleep evades my eyes, and my heart is cowed by anxiety. I have been wondering how I could have come to such a pitch of distress, so great a flood as that which now engulfs me -- I who was so generous and well-loved in my heyday. But now I recall how wrongly I acted in Jerusalem when I seized all the vessels of silver and gold there and ordered the extermination of the inhabitants of Judah for no reason at all. This, I am convinced, is why these misfortunes have overtaken me, and why I am dying of melancholy in a foreign land.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
With the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the author shows the sad end of anyone who lets himself be guided by the greed of riches. It is a temptation that unfortunately returns in every generation, including ours. Those who favour it are urged to do evil deeds both against people and against God. During his campaign against Persia, Antiochus received news of the numerous defeats suffered by his army by the Jews who not only had humiliated his army, but also regained Jerusalem and restored the temple. The king was bitterly struck by this news: he - notes the author - not only became frightened but even fell ill and in depression. The author underlines three times the moods of the king by adding the adjective "great": great sadness, great depression, great pain. The burning defeats led the king to reflect on his past. And he came - in a sort of confession of sins - to recognize the causes of his ills, namely the sacking of the temple he performed (1:20-24) and the massacres ordered by one of his emissaries (1:29-32). In truth, at the origin of everything there was the greed for riches that had led him to do evil deeds. Wealth corrupts the heart of those who are believers and of those who are not. In this case it was Antiochus who was corrupted by riches. But in the course of the story, the sons of Mattathias, unlike their father, will let themselves be corrupted by gold and silver and their lives will all end in a violent way. Already the prophets had inveighed against the enslavement to money. Jesus, who fulfils Scriptures, clearly warns: "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth" (Mt 6:24). In today's materialistic culture these words, also illustrated by the example of Antiochus, resonate even stronger to keep us away from greed.
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
