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
Revelation 13,11-18
Then I saw a second beast, emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb, but made a noise like a dragon.
This second beast exercised all the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and all its people worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed.
And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while people watched.
Through the miracles which it was allowed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astray the people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honour of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and still lived.
It was allowed to breathe life into this statue, so that the statue of the beast was able to speak, and to have anyone who refused to worship the statue of the beast put to death.
It compelled everyone -- small and great alike, rich and poor, slave and citizen -- to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead,
and made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number 666.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John sees another Beast rise from the earth. If the first Beast represents totalitarian political power, the second symbolizes the idolatrous cult of personality that power demands. In some ways, this second Beast is more dangerous than the first, because it is more devious and active. The author repeats the Greek verb "to do/to make" eight times. This Beast "does" and "makes," that is, it exercises the power delegated by the first one. It "makes" the earth adore the first Beast (v. 12); it "performs" great signs; it "makes" fire come down from heaven (v. 13); and with these signs that it "performs" it seduces men and women, inviting them to "make" a statue in honour of the first Beast (v.14). It "causes" those who do not worship the statue to be put to death (v. 15) and it "causes" everyone to be given the mark of the Beast (v. 16-17). This Beast is primarily represented as active and in service to the Beast from the sea. Its danger lies in the fact that it disguises itself as a lamb, while in reality its voice is the demonic voice of the dragon. Jesus had warned his disciples: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves" (Mt 7:15). The "false prophet" will appear several times in Revelation (16:13, 19:20, 20:10). This Beast from the earth "exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf," that is, it exists in reference to the first beast and is obedient to the Dragon. It exercises its power above all through words, propaganda, ideology, and deceitful arguments. Consequently, it has enormous capabilities. In fact, with its prodigious and spectacular works it is able to attract and seduce "all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave" and it puts its mark on everyone. We could say that this Beast well represents that culture of death and violence that seems to be enveloping the planet more and more: it is the culture of hatred, the ideology of war, the idea of strength without mercy, the practice of justice without forgiveness, the culture of the death penalty, the ideology of absolute pleasure, the practice of euthanasia, and many other forms that mark the minds of countless people. Believers are called to live and communicate another kind of wisdom, which comes from heaven and is opposed to both the Beast who comes from the sea and the Beast that comes from the earth.
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
