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
Matthew 7, 1-5
'Do not judge, and you will not be judged;
because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the standard you use will be the standard used for you.
Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own?
And how dare you say to your brother, "Let me take that splinter out of your eye," when, look, there is a great log in your own?
Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus urges the disciples not to judge in order not to be judged themselves. This is a serious statement. God will judge us according to the same judgment that we pronounce on others. Whoever wants a generous and merciful judgment must be generous and merciful to their brethren. On the other hand, whoever judges in a cold or even malicious way will receive the same treatment. Jesus’ statement is not abstract. It is linked to a deeply rooted tendency that we all know very well: to be always indulgent with ourselves and very hard on others. This is a version of the sin of self-centeredness and pride, which - as it says in the Book of Genesis - crouches night and day at the door of our heart. Indeed, we all pay attention to the "speck of dust" in other people’s eyes, while we are more than indulgent in tolerating the "log" in our own eye. This is an attitude of mind that poisons daily life and makes it violent and bitter. However, there is an important distinction that Jesus makes. In telling them not to judge, Jesus is not urging the disciples to be indifferent to other people. On the contrary, he asks each of them to be attentive to other people with a loving and fraternal concern. In that sense, love for others demands attention and judgement, mercy and steadfastness, correction and help. Jesus prohibits the kind of judgement that looks at others and stigmatises them, condemning them without hope or mercy. In this case, judgement is only condemnation. But fraternal correction, which stems from a perspective of love and not disinterest, is nourished by trusting that the Lord gives each person his or her own interior path and his or her own spiritual growth.
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
