Feast of the Black Christ of Esquipulas in Guatemala, venerated throughout all of Central America. Read more
Feast of the Black Christ of Esquipulas in Guatemala, venerated throughout all of Central America.
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
1 Samuel 8,4-7.10-22
The elders of Israel all assembled, went back to Samuel at Ramah, and said, 'Look, you are old, and your sons are not following your example. So give us a king to judge us, like the other nations.' Samuel thought that it was wrong of them to say, 'Let us have a king to judge us,' so he prayed to Yahweh. But Yahweh said to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you: it is not you they have rejected Everything that Yahweh had said, Samuel then repeated to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, 'This is what the king who is to reign over you will do. He will take your sons and direct them to his chariotry and cavalry, and they will run in front of his chariot. He will use them as leaders of a thousand and leaders of fifty; he will make them plough his fields and gather in his harvest and make his weapons of war and the gear for his chariots. He will take your daughters as perfumers, cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his officials. He will tithe your crops and vineyards to provide for his courtiers and his officials. He will take the best of your servants, men and women, of your oxen and your donkeys, and make them work for him. He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry aloud because of the king you have chosen for yourselves, but on that day Yahweh will not hear you.' The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel. They said, 'No! We are determined to have a king, so that we can be like the other nations, with our own king to rule us and lead us and fight our battles.' Samuel listened to all that the people had to say and repeated it in Yahweh's ear. Yahweh then said to Samuel, 'Do as they ask and give them a king.' Samuel then said to the Israelites, 'Go home, each of you, to his own town.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The eighth chapter occupies a key place in the history of the monarchy in Israel. The very people themselves are the ones who ask for a king. Samuel is old and still in office, but his sons, whom he appointed judges, "did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain" (v.3). By their behaviour they betray the principle on which Israel is founded, namely the exercise of fair and equal justice for all. Their corruption rots the very core of Israel’s coexistence. Samuel, for his part, seems not to intervene in any way to correct much less stop them. The situation, not completely corrupted, has become unmanageable. The elders of the people decide to ask for a king, "like other nations" (v. 5). This pains Samuel. The Lord explains it to him: "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me for being king over them" (v.7). The Lord points out that the whole history of Israel is woven of "abandonments," of pursuits after other gods. And yet the Lord tells Samuel to grant what the elders ask. Though the Lord does not approve of it, he does not stop it. He does, however, ask that Samuel "warn" the Israelites about the consequences of their choice: "Warn them" (v. 9). The warning is very harsh, one of the harshest found in all the Old Testament, summed up by the verb "take." The Israelites must know that the king "will take" taxes by law and confiscation; he "will take" their sons for his military campaigns; he "will take" their daughters and put them into the service of the court (v. 13); he "will take" their fields, vineyards and orchards and give them to his most loyal allies (vv. 14-15). The kings’ greed will then reach the highest level, the level at Ezekiel’s time (34:1-10), when they will be accused of using their power purely for their own gain. Once again the people will be enslaved: "You will be slaves." Israel, for whom the experience of Exodus and freedom from bondage is still alive, should be "warned" that a monarchy will lead them to relive the ancient condition of slavery. And when Israel "will cry out" to God to lament their situation, God "will not answer" (v. 18). With the request for a king the very heart of the covenant of absolute and unique fidelity that binds the Lord to Israel is broken. Samuel tries in vain to persuade the people not to ask for a king. The thirst for independence from God seems to prevail among the people of Israel who prefer to mimic the mentality of the other nations. Wanting to lead his people with love and not rule over them with tyranny, the Lord allows Israel their freedom, but warns them that autonomy arises from pride and leads to ruin. Fortunately, however, God’s love is stronger than our betrayal. But we should not play with the heart, neither with ours, nor with God’s.
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
