Holy Tuesday.
Memory of the missionary martyrs. Anniversary of the inauguration of the pastoral ministry Benedict XVI. The Jews celebrate the beginning of the time of Passover.
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Holy Tuesday.
Memory of the missionary martyrs. Anniversary of the inauguration of the pastoral ministry Benedict XVI. The Jews celebrate the beginning of the time of Passover.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
John 13, 21-33.36-38
Having said this, Jesus was deeply disturbed and declared, 'In all truth I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.'
The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he meant.
The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus;
Simon Peter signed to him and said, 'Ask who it is he means,'
so leaning back close to Jesus' chest he said, 'Who is it, Lord?'
Jesus answered, 'It is the one to whom I give the piece of bread that I dip in the dish.' And when he had dipped the piece of bread he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
At that instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, 'What you are going to do, do quickly.'
None of the others at table understood why he said this.
Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, 'Buy what we need for the festival,' or telling him to give something to the poor.
As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. It was night.
When he had gone, Jesus said: Now has the Son of man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified.
If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon.
Little children, I shall be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and, as I told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come.
Simon Peter said, 'Lord, where are you going?' Jesus replied, 'Now you cannot follow me where I am going, but later you shall follow me.'
Peter said to him, 'Why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.'
'Lay down your life for me?' answered Jesus. 'In all truth I tell you, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus knows well that his hour" is approaching - his death is not far off. Jesus’ heart is crowded with different, even conflicting, emotions: he does not want to die, but neither does he want to flee. Either way, the hour of his "departure" from this world to the Father has come and it cannot be taken for granted that the disciples will stay together. Judas is about to betray him, even though the Teacher bent down to wash his feet. It is with great sadness that Jesus says to the twelve: "One of you will betray me." Everyone is dismayed; the traitor is among his closest friends. This means that in following Jesus, it is not our physical proximity that counts but rather that of the heart, that is abandoning ourselves to him and following him, welcoming his teaching till the end. We may even stay close to Jesus, follow some devotional practices, continue our rites and religious habits, but if we do not follow with our heart to the word of the Lord, if we do not concretely practice love for the poor, if there is no concrete communion with our brothers and sisters, our heart goes far off, our mind befogs and we do not understand the Lord’s dream of love anymore. Then it becomes natural to slip into betrayal. The battle between good and evil - between trust and distrust - is played out in our heart. These days, Jesus is asking for our hearts. He tries to help the disciples understand what is about to happen, but, beginning with Peter, they do not understand, because they are not listening to him carefully, they do not allow their hearts to be touched. Betrayal comes from a heart that does not listen. If we put aside the words of the Gospel, our words, our thoughts and our feelings prevail. We even become able to sell off Jesus. We all need to be vigilant. Even Peter and the other disciples who remained with him that night and said they would be faithful to him till death, would betray him in a few days. We must not rely on ourselves but entrust ourselves every day to the Lord’s love and protection.
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
