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 10, 32-45
They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem; Jesus was walking on ahead of them; they were in a daze, and those who followed were apprehensive. Once more taking the Twelve aside he began to tell them what was going to happen to him,
'Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles,
who will mock him and spit at him and scourge him and put him to death; and after three days he will rise again.'
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him. 'Master,' they said to him, 'We want you to do us a favour.'
He said to them, 'What is it you want me to do for you?'
They said to him, 'Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.'
But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I shall drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I shall be baptised?'
They replied, 'We can.' Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I shall drink you shall drink, and with the baptism with which I shall be baptised you shall be baptised,
but as for seats at my right hand or my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted.'
When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John,
so Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that among the gentiles those they call their rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt.
Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all.
For the Son of man himself came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel shows us Jesus as he continues to travel to Jerusalem with his disciples. And it is not by chance that the evangelist notes that he "was walking ahead of them," just as a shepherd does, as a sign of his true authority, the authority of one who leads with love. The authoritative attention they see in Jesus moves James and John to ask him to sit at his right hand, that is, to have a high and important place. This is in strident contrast with what Jesus just confided to his disciples, that is, an additional announcement of his Passion. But once again, the disciples are far from their Teacher’s words. Among the people of Israel, expectations for the Messiah were tied to the idea of triumph and power, and the disciples, following the majority, had similar ideas. Jesus instead says: "They will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentile." As if they hadn’t listened at all, as often happens to us, the two brothers asked him to save a place for them next to him. Jesus repeats what power should mean among Christians: "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all." Jesus indicates that the path of free and generous service expressed in intense, obedient, and humble work, is the true path of the disciple. And the model - the only reference for those who exercise responsibility - is Jesus himself, "the Son of Man [who] came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Every Christian, just like the community to which he or she belongs, is called to contemplate in Christ the image of the servant of all, who washes the disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1-17) and dies on the cross for the salvation of all. By imitating Jesus, we too, in our turn, will become "slaves" of our brothers and sisters.
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
