Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 23,1-12
Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said,
'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses.
You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach.
They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they!
Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels,
like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues,
being greeted respectfully in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.
'You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you are all brothers.
You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.
Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Anyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus is in the temple, and this is the last speech he will make to the crowds. He lashes out violently against the "scribes and Pharisees" and presents himself as the true shepherd of the crowd. He does not attack the Pharisees’ doctrine; indeed he says that it is just and should be obeyed. But their behaviour is something else, and it reveals an empty, cold religiosity that consists only of external practices. They "make their phylacteries broad." Phylacteries are little boxes containing tiny parchment scrolls with bible passages that are tied to the left arm and the forehead. Their origin is very meaningful: the Word of God needs to be remembered (the forehead) and put into practice (the arm). However, it had become a purely external practice. Jesus then refers to the practice of "making their fringes long." Fringes were little braids of cloth adorned with purple and blue cords fixed to the four corners of the outer garment; Jesus himself wore them. Yet ostentatious externality kills the inner meaning of things. The same sort of thing can be said about the Pharisees’ and scribes’ vice of seeking out the place of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. Finally, Jesus takes issue with the "academic" and official titles that the scribes and priests demanded from the people and from their disciples. Among these, Jesus underlines the most well known, "rabbi," that is, "my teacher." Here too, however, Jesus is not rejecting the mission of teaching; Jesus only wants to underline the uniqueness of his Word. All believers are subject to the Gospel, and it is the Word that we must announce and live always and everywhere. This is the origin of God’s paternity over our lives. And it is the Gospel, not our words or our programs, that has authority over our lives. There is a constant temptation to make the Gospel fit our traditions and the world around us. Jesus condemned this temptation, and he asks us to do the same.
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
