Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Orthodox Churches. Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Orthodox Churches.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 3, 1-6
Another time he went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered.
And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with.
He said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get up and stand in the middle!'
Then he said to them, 'Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?' But they said nothing.
Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out and his hand was restored.
The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It is Saturday and we are probably in Capernaum. Jesus, as usual, goes to the synagogue for prayer. Here, he met a man with a seriously disabled arm. Maybe this disability prevented him from working. In an apocryphal Gospel we read that this man said the following prayer: "I was a bricklayer, I earned my living with the work of my hands; O Jesus, I pray to you to heal me so that I may not have to beg shamefully for my bread." Maybe we can see in this man all those who had accidents on the work place and cannot work anymore. They are a huge number. As soon as Jesus sees him, he is moved, as he always is when he meets the sick and the weak. The Pharisees, who are absolutely careless about the sick man, try to find grounds for accusation against Jesus. The young prophet of Nazareth, although aware of the wicked hearts of the Pharisees, cures the sick man. "Stretch out your hand," Jesus orders him. The man obeys Jesus’ word and stretches his hand. Obedience to the Gospel always leads to healing; it makes us conquer again what we have lost because of our sin and fragility. Jesus has come so that every human being may not be slave of him or herself and his and her narrow horizons, but so that they may share God’s very horizon - that is, salvation for all. Healing does not occur so that people may be slaves to themselves - such is the meaning of the withered hand - but rather to serve others and the common good. The hand is healed so that we can "give a hand" - as people say - to those who are in need. This is why Jesus does not break the Sabbath, as the Pharisees accuse him. With this healing, the true "Sabbath" (that is God’s day) breaks into human life; in that man, creation is fulfilled. Every time God’s mercy and salvation touch human lives, the "Sabbath" of God is fulfilled. The Sabbath is the celebration of love and fullness of life.
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
