Memory of Mary of Clopas who stood near the cross of the Lord with the other women. Prayer for all women in every part of the world who follow the Lord in difficulties and with courage.
We remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was killed by the Nazis in the concentration camp of Flossenbürg.
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Memory of Mary of Clopas who stood near the cross of the Lord with the other women. Prayer for all women in every part of the world who follow the Lord in difficulties and with courage.
We remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was killed by the Nazis in the concentration camp of Flossenbürg.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
John 7, 40-53
Some of the crowd who had been listening said, 'He is indeed the prophet,'
and some said, 'He is the Christ,' but others said, 'Would the Christ come from Galilee?
Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from Bethlehem, the village where David was?'
So the people could not agree about him.
Some wanted to arrest him, but no one actually laid a hand on him.
The guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, 'Why haven't you brought him?'
The guards replied, 'No one has ever spoken like this man.'
'So,' the Pharisees answered, 'you, too, have been led astray?
Have any of the authorities come to believe in him? Any of the Pharisees?
This rabble knows nothing about the Law -- they are damned.'
One of them, Nicodemus -- the same man who had come to Jesus earlier -- said to them,
'But surely our Law does not allow us to pass judgement on anyone without first giving him a hearing and discovering what he is doing?'
To this they answered, 'Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not arise in Galilee.'
They all went home,
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Gospel reading makes us stop once again in the temple in Jerusalem, during the festival of Booths, while Jesus debates with his opponents about his mission. In this passage the evangelist reports the diverse reactions the people have to Jesus’ words. Some admire and recognize him as a prophet, others even as the Messiah. A discussion, however, arises among them. Undeniably, the Gospel always stirs up a division between those who welcome it and those who do not, and at times this divergence arises in one’s own heart. Such a debate also takes place in our heart when we are attracted to the Gospel’s words or push them away out of laziness, pride or because it demands too much from us. That day in the temple a discussion of this very kind erupted. But, Jesus’ word was so authoritative that no one dared to lay a hand on him. There were even guards there who were supposed to arrest him, but after hearing him speak they did not have the courage to do so. When the Pharisees reproached them for not arresting Jesus, they responded with a frankness that irritated them all the more: "Never has anyone spoken like this!" The Word of God is powerful. Of course, it is a "weak" force, and yet it is more powerful than human weapons. In this sense the apostle Paul is able to write to Timothy while he is in chains that "the Word of God is not chained" (2 Tim 2:9). Its strength lies in presenting a love that knows no boundaries, that teaches how to love others before oneself. A voice like this undoubtedly had never been heard. No one had ever taught that the truly blessed are the poor, the non-violent, the gentle and those who work for peace and justice. The entire Gospel is lined throughout with this love. Among them only Nicodemus, who had met and spoken with Jesus at length, objects to his colleagues’ blindness. But they reproach him, too. Their eyes were certainly blind and their hearts were hardened. They do not yield before the facts. Only by listening continuously to Jesus’ Word, as Nicodemus had done, is it possible to open one’s eyes and heart to this extraordinary Teacher.
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
