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 6,39-42
He also told them a parable, 'Can one blind person guide another? Surely both will fall into a pit?
Disciple is not superior to teacher; but fully trained disciple will be like teacher.
Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own?
How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take out that splinter in your eye," when you cannot see the great log in your own? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter in your brother's eye.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We continue the reading of the sermon on the plain according to Luke, which corresponds to that on the Mountain, reported by Matthew. We began it last Wednesday and will finish tomorrow. Today’s passage and tomorrow’s constitute a unity where Jesus expounds a series of maxims full of human and spiritual wisdom. They are brief so that we can memorize them and draw inspiration from them for our behaviour. The image of the blind person who cannot guide another summons everyone, especially those who have a responsibility to guide, to have their eyes opened to the Gospel, to be attentive to one’s own interior life, to see what there is that is good and beautiful around us; otherwise we will be blind without the possibility of helping anyone. And the indispensable duty of fraternal correction is to be placed in this context. Whoever is blind, in other words, those who let themselves be guided by their own narrow-mindedness or pride, fall into the attitude chastised by the Gospel, that of seeing the splinter in another’s eye and not give heed to the beam which distorts one’s own eye. We should all be on guard against becoming cold and, above all, blind, judges. Work on our own interior life: an ascesis over one’s own instincts helps to be more brotherly and a better friend.
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
