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 11,16-19
'What comparison can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place: We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't be mourners. 'For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He is possessed." The Son of man came, eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Word of God continues to take us by the hand to help us prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord. The time has come for our generation to let its heart be touched by the preaching of the Gospel. There is a common temptation to come up with all kinds of excuses to avoid accepting the exhortations of the Gospel and returning to the Lord with all our heart. How often can it be said of us, sadly, that "we played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn." We are all led to think only of ourselves. Yes, love for ourselves is the only melody we know and the only one we follow with obstinate perseverance. We invent the most extravagant excuses to put aside everything that disturbs our egocentrism. In the end, we only trust ourselves and nothing else. Obviously when one plays just for him/herself, the result is not a harmonious concert! Faith - even though it certainly requires reason - passes through the heart, that is our entrusting ourselves in God. Communion of goals and love spring from here. Often our rationalizations are made to suit our own ends, that is, to defend our independence, our pride, and our self-sufficiency. But as it was for John the Baptist and the people of his time, so it is for us now - the time has come to choose, to decide to follow Jesus or to continue running after ourselves. It is a choice that we cannot put off and that the imminence of Christmas helps us understand and make. The true "wisdom" needed for this season is found in understanding the great mystery of Christmas: a God who loves us so much that he became a child in order to be near us. Christmas is the extraordinary "work" of God’s love. This is why it is beautiful to be moved by the Child who is coming.
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
