Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 8, 1-10
And now once again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples to him and said to them,
'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat.
If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.'
His disciples replied, 'Where could anyone get these people enough bread to eat in a deserted place?'
He asked them, 'How many loaves have you?' And they said to him, 'Seven.'
Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd.
They had a few small fishes as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed too.
They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over.
Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away
and at once, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We are still in pagan territory, and a large crowd gathers around Jesus. The attention, with which these people listen to the young prophet from Nazareth, even though they are not of the Jewish religion, is moving. Jesus himself is certainly moved by how attentively they listen to him, and he takes the initiative to ensure they do not go back home without eating, given that it had gotten very late. How different from us, who only listen to Jesus’ Word a little and let our hearts be touched by it even less. Jesus communicates his concern for the crowd to the disciples, as if looking for someone to share responsibility with him. But once again he only finds their meanness. They listen to their own "reasonableness," and, perhaps thinking that Jesus is going too far, as usual, they answer that it is impossible to feed so many people in the desert. They suggest this as if Jesus had not realized the difficulty. The disciples believe their own wisdom more than Jesus’ words. And yet he had told them: "All things can be done for the one who believes." But even if they did not remember these words, just as we often forget the Gospel, they might have thought back to the miracle of multiplication that he had already performed. Once again Jesus takes the initiative: "How many loaves to do you have?" "Seven," the disciples answer, as if to challenge Jesus. He has them bring them to him; he takes them in his hands and multiplies them for all. It is the second time Mark reports the multiplication of loaves (the first time was in Galilee). This time it takes place in pagan territory, as if to say that bread should be multiplied in all times and all lands. Wherever there is need of bread, love, help, or support, the disciples are called to bring it, multiply it, and distribute it. Always.
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
