The Jews celebrate Yom Kippur (day of expiation). Read more
The Jews celebrate Yom Kippur (day of expiation).
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 11, 15-26
But some of them said, 'It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he drives devils out.'
Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven;
but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, 'Any kingdom which is divided against itself is heading for ruin, and house collapses against house.
So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last?-since you claim that it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out.
Now if it is through Beelzebul that I drive devils out, through whom do your own sons drive them out? They shall be your judges, then.
But if it is through the finger of God that I drive devils out, then the kingdom of God has indeed caught you unawares.
So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed;
but when someone stronger than himself attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
'Anyone who is not with me is against me; and anyone who does not gather in with me throws away.
'When an unclean spirit goes out of someone it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, "I will go back to the home I came from."
But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied,
it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, and so that person ends up worse off than before.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus has just freed a man possessed by a "deaf" demon. To hinder speech means reinforcing or in any case making loneliness harder of the one so struck. Communication through words is one of human life’s mainstays. Therefore, when this man who is freed from the demon can speak, the people’s astonishment explodes. However, the spirit of evil does not surrender. If possible, it increases its resistance and its opposition to Jesus and the Gospel. The whole existence of Jesus and of his disciples of every age is a story of opposition and struggle against evil. In this case the attempt was made to free that man from being mute, in other words, not being capable of communicating with others. How can we not think of the sad condition of so much of humanity who cannot understand each other? It is difficult for people, ethnicities, nations, and countries to communicate with one another. And this inability to communicate creates tension and conflicts that can sometimes become dramatic. The prince of evil works to widen division and strengthen hatred. The Gospel continues to invite the disciples to be attentive and watchful, to not enclose themselves in their own spaces, because the demon of incommunicability is at work so that even among the disciples divisions insinuate themselves and resignation affirms itself. The accusations and calumnies against Jesus and the disciples are not infrequent, as the Pharisees did. But Jesus exhorts us to see the fruits of his mission and, we could add, the works of love which the disciples and the Church continue to accomplish. These are the true witness of the presence of the "finger of God" in history. And Jesus is himself the "finger of God," and thus the man "stronger" than the also "strong" evil one who enters the house, he overcomes him and disarms him. This house is the heart of each one of us, it is the Christian community, where love is stronger than evil. And whoever is blind to this love, is in fact on the enemy’s side. This is why Jesus can state with intransigence: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." But it is necessary to watch. The fight against evil will be with us all our life. The "unclean spirit," Jesus says, even if it has come out will seek to re-enter. And the outcome of the one who allows laziness and preoccupation for vain things to leave the heart unguarded is dramatic: "seven other spirits" enter into him and the new condition is worse than the first.
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
