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
Matthew 1,18-24
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally.
He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.'
Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'.
When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home;
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
There are only a few days remained until Christmas and we are meeting the figure of Joseph. Yesterday the Gospel of the genealogy of Jesus presented Joseph, "the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born." Today, his figure stands before our eyes in this Gospel, which is among the few in which Joseph’s figure appears. Matthew, in presenting the way "the birth of Jesus took place," seems to highlight its irregularities. Matthew tells us about Joseph’s plight due to what his eyes were seeing. Joseph was the fiancé of Mary and, according to the Jewish tradition, this was in fact already like a marriage. For this reason, when he became aware that Mary was pregnant, he felt betrayed as her husband. Necessarily, he was expected to conduct an official divorce from Mary. As a consequence, Mary would have appeared as an adulterous woman and, therefore, refused and neglected by their relatives and all the inhabitants of the village. This was a truly tragic situation. We can imagine the anxiety of this young husband, who feels betrayed by Mary, a woman, who certainly seemed extraordinary in his eyes. Perhaps because of the high respect that Joseph had for Mary, he decided to repudiate her in secret. Joseph loved Mary in a way that allowed him to interpret the law in a more sensitive manner; I would say a merciful and loving interpretation. Yet that righteous man, even more sensitive than the law, if he had succeeded in his intention - which for him and the law were considered right - he would have done something against the most profound "justice" of God. There is a "beyond" of God, which the angel revealed to him during his sleep. Joseph listened to the angel sent by God. He then understood the mystery of Mary, and he agreed to engage his life with that mystery. Joseph renounced his personal projects, including the fair and honest ones, and he decided to adhere to the dream of God for Mary and for the world. Therefore, after Mary, he became the second faithful believer. The angel continued to speak to him and he revealed the place that he occupies in the history of salvation: "You are to name him Jesus." Joseph must recognize and say who this son is. A few days before Christmas, Joseph becomes the image of the believer, and the story tells us how to live the mystery we are preparing to celebrate: we have to listen to the Word of God and take with us that Jesus is about to be born.
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
