The Eastern and Western Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, the "greatest of those born of women," who prepared the way for the Lord.
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The Eastern and Western Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, the "greatest of those born of women," who prepared the way for the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 1,57-66.80
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son;
and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had lavished on her his faithful love, they shared her joy.
Now it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother spoke up. 'No,' she said, 'he is to be called John.'
They said to her, 'But no one in your family has that name,'
and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called.
The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they were all astonished.
At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God.
All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea.
All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. 'What will this child turn out to be?' they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit grew strong. And he lived in the desert until the day he appeared openly to Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist, which is a very ancient feast in the Church. Besides Mary, John is the only saint whose birth is remembered. This is because their lives cannot be understood without reference to Jesus: they were born for Jesus, one to be his mother and the other to prepare the way for him. In a Byzantine iconostasis, Mary and John are depicted alongside the central door, Christ, inviting the faithful to turn their eyes towards Jesus. John was born to show men and women the way that leads to Jesus. He is even venerated in Islam, and his relics are kept in the Umayyad mosque in Damascus. The evangelist narrates his birth in a way that parallels the birth of Jesus. The Lord’s gaze came to rest on him, too. The angel appears to Zechariah while he is performing duties in the temple and tells him about the birth of a son. The announcement seems totally impossible, because Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth is presently sterile. But the angel insists and even suggests to Zechariah the name he should give the child: "You will name him John" (that is, "God is favourable"). The birth of the Baptist inaugurates a new life for the two elderly parents, even though all hope seemed to have vanished because of Elizabeth’s sterility. The son is the fruit of the angel’s word and his name is completely new: he is born to show the world Jesus. John is an example for us too: we are all the fruit of God’s love, and none of us was born by chance. We were born to be disciples of Jesus and to prepare the hearts of men and women to welcome him.
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
