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
Mark 1, 14-20
After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,
'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.'
As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon's brother Andrew casting a net in the lake -- for they were fishermen.
And Jesus said to them, 'Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.'
And at once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.
At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Monday opens the first of the thirty-four weeks called "ordinary time," that is the liturgical time that does not have special memories of the Lord. From today through the ninth week, the liturgy will propose that we meditate on the Gospel according to Mark; the Gospel of Matthew will follow till the twenty-first Sunday and that of Luke until the thirty-fourth. The Gospel of Mark was the first to be written and, contrary to the other two synoptic Gospels, starts directly with Jesus’ public life. Yesterday in the liturgy, we remembered Jesus’ Baptism. Today, the beginning of Jesus’ preaching is offered for our meditation. Mark notes that Jesus went to Galilee after John the Baptist’s arrest. The prophetical word that was proclaiming a new time had been chained. Right at this moment, Jesus decided to start walking the paths of his land to proclaim to all the "good news." His word is not an abstract one that is proclaimed and then vanishes in people’s forgetfulness. The Gospel is Jesus himself. He is the good news to believe and to communicate to men and women so that they entrust their lives to him. Jesus shows, with his words and gestures, that the kingdom of love has come among people. With him starts a new history of love and friendship. This was the "good news" that people were able to hear. Those who listen to it change their lives. The story of Christian preaching moves its first steps here. Jesus walked on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and he saw Simon and Andrew, two fishermen brothers. He said to them: "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." The two men, though they were busy mending their nets, welcomed Jesus’ invitation and followed him. It is the story of the disciples of every time. For indeed, the Lord passes through each generation - ours too - and calls men and women to follow him. He does not stop. Continuing to walk in the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus met two other brothers, James and John, and he called them, as well. After listening to him, they left their nets and followed him. It is the beginning of the new fraternity that Jesus started and that continues even today on the same path of listening and obedience.
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
