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 10, 17-27
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.'
And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.'
Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.'
But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!'
The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.'
They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved?'
Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This passage from the Gospel is among those that have had the greatest impact on the lives of many men and women who have committed themselves to follow Jesus. These words still resound strongly to our generation at the beginning of this millennium. There are many people who are "running," looking for someone who can give them happiness and show them the way. And all of this running often ends in the desert, or worse, at the bottom of a ditch. The man we read about in the Gospel stops running when he kneels before Jesus. He addresses him as "good," but Jesus corrects him: "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." With this answer, which might seem excessive, Jesus ridicules the way we all insist on keeping a clear conscience and thinking we are good people when in truth, this is an excuse not to change our hearts or our lives. That man had indeed kept the commandments; but could he feel justified? For the believer, the problem is not feeling justified, it’s following the Lord with complete trust and decisiveness. Every day, Jesus "looks at us and loves us" so that we won’t hold back the many riches we have accumulated, which weigh down our lives and slow down our following of the Gospel. The only wealth for which it is worth living is the wealth of becoming one of Jesus’ disciples. The man chose his wealth and went away sad. It is beautiful to keep all of the commandments, but it is not everything. In fact, simply respecting the rules can give rise to a sense of self-sufficiency. The true vocation of the disciple is to follow Jesus, walking behind him and living as he lives. And if we want to follow him, our lives cannot be tied to other kinds of wealth. Leaving everything first of all means not believing that our happiness can be found in wealth. Woe to those who are its salves, as often happens! If we can distance ourselves from our wealth, we will easily be able to give it to those who need so that they may live with greater dignity.
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
