Memory of St. Jerome, doctor of the Church, who died in Bethlehem in 420. He translated the Bible into the Latin language. Prayer that the voice of the Scripture may be heard in every language. Read more
Memory of St. Jerome, doctor of the Church, who died in Bethlehem in 420. He translated the Bible into the Latin language. Prayer that the voice of the Scripture may be heard in every language.
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 10, 13-16
'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
And still, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be raised high as heaven? You shall be flung down to hell.
'Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel passage is inserted into Jesus’ instructions to the seventy-two disciples, which we heard yesterday. Jesus has just exhorted the disciples to go to every city to preach the Gospel. He adds, however, that if one of these does not accept their preaching they should leave it shaking off even the dust which has stuck to their sandals. And at this point Jesus turns directly to Chorazin and Bethsaida, two cities in Galilee, threatening their ruin. These, in fact, notwithstanding the very preaching of Jesus, and the many miracles performed by him during this time, have neither changed their life nor their sinful behaviour. To these he adds Capernaum also, the city he chose as his new residence together with the group of the Twelve. Even though it received this privileged treatment, Capernaum did not correspond the love shown to it, rather it remained deaf and ungrateful, continuing to live in a dissolute and corrupt manner. Instead of being exalted it will sink and be humiliated. These are very hard words which leave an impression. But they manifest the seriousness of the Gospel message. Moreover, Jesus has given his very life in order to communicate salvation. Those who do not accept it, and even reject it, automatically sow their own ruin. Even Tire and Sidon -Jesus sayswould have converted when they heard the words and saw the works which were being accomplished in those days. It is a severe exhortation also for us, today. Let the Gospel not be preached in vain. Even today the final words are true: "whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me." Every word preached comes from above. This is a responsibility for those who preach and for those who hear.
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
