The week of prayer for Christian unity begins. Particular memory for the Catholic Church. Read more
The week of prayer for Christian unity begins. Particular memory for the Catholic Church.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 2, 23-28
It happened that one Sabbath day he was taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to make a path by plucking ears of corn.
And the Pharisees said to him, 'Look, why are they doing something on the Sabbath day that is forbidden?'
And he replied, 'Have you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry-
how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of the offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?'
And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;
so the Son of man is master even of the Sabbath.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After the discussion about fasting we heard yesterday, the evangelist Mark describes the controversy about the Sabbath. The Pharisees see that Jesus’ disciples, while walking through a cornfield on a Sabbath, pluck heads of grain to eat, and by doing so, they were breaking the law of the Sabbath rest. The parallel passage in Matthew specifies why they did this: the disciples "were hungry" (Mt 12:1). Immediately, the Pharisees accuse the Teacher of allowing his disciples to break the law. But Jesus defends his disciples and refers to a similar episode that happened to David. While fleeing from Saul, who wanted to kill him, David entered the temple and together with his companions, ate the blessed bread reserved for the priests. And Jesus adds: "The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath!" This statement is already present in the Jewish tradition. Various rabbis taught that an exaggerated religiosity could endanger the fulfilment of the essence of the law. One of them said: "According to the Torah, nothing is more important than saving human life ... Even when there is only the slightest possibility of risking a life, any prohibition of the law can be neglected." Jesus never violated the holiness of the Sabbath. If anything, with authority, as in this occasion, gives the correct interpretation. In sum, he shows what truly counts in the law, which is humankind salvation. People and their salvation are in the very heart of Scriptures. Indeed, the Lord has created the world and sent his Son for the sake of humankind, to save them from sin and death. Therefore, believers are not called primarily to follow some rules, but rather to answer God’s love and live with love towards others. This gospel page shows how much Jesus cares about human beings’ salvation. This is why he came to earth; as the evangelist John writes: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jan 3:16). This is why the Son of Man is the Lord, even of Sabbath: he came to save and not to condemn. And he asks each of us to follow him along this path, the path of love.
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
