Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the ancient eastern Churches (Siro-orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Assyrian). Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the ancient eastern Churches (Siro-orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Assyrian).
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 3, 7-12
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea,
and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and Transjordan and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him.
And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed.
For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him.
And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!'
But he warned them strongly not to make him known.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Seeing the Pharisees’ stubbornness, Jesus leaves Capernaum and its synagogue in order to be able to speak more freely to the crowds that continue to gather around him. From now on he will not enter the synagogues anymore, as he had done until that moment, and he chooses the lake shore and other open spaces as a teaching place for his followers. And the more the Pharisees attacked Jesus, the more people were going to him. Indeed the crowds are often the protagonists of the Gospel. In any city or region Jesus goes, by now, crowds throng around and surround him. As in this passage, many come from all regions. They are often so intrusive that Jesus has to go on a boat in order not to be crushed. All throw themselves on him to touch him, as if they want to unload on him their pain and hopes. Besides, to whom could they go without being rejected? They know well that they will meet a good and merciful man who will never reject them. They come with the load of their questions, problems, difficulties, hopes, fears and anguishes. And they become even intrusive, as is bound to happen. The requests of those who are in need are always intruding. On the contrary, we would like everything to happen according to our rhythms in order to guarantee our quiet and order. This is why we would like the poor to be as they are not, that is all abstractly good, ordered, honest, respectful and so on. Jesus knows well how the poor are and he knows well that we are also narrow-minded. And yet he does not send anyone away, not even us. He sets out on a boat in order not to be overcome. It is a scene that is striking for it strength. Perhaps we should ask ourselves: where do crowds today, who are even more numerous than those of Jesus’ time, go so that they may "touch" Jesus? Shouldn’t our Christian communities be the body of Jesus that the poor and the weak can reach and "touch"? This is even more necessary as the barriers that try to prevent the crowds of the poor, especially from the southern parts of the world, even from brushing the frontiers of the rich countries, seem to grow.
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
