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
Matthew 7, 15-20
'Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.
You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit.
A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit.
Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.
I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus puts his listeners on guard against the danger of being attracted by false prophets, that is, against that way of life that seems easier and more immediate, but which, in reality, steals life like a ravenous wolf. It is easy for men and women to let themselves be attracted by a life that seems "normal" but that, in reality, contains little love. Jesus reminds us that the temptations of the world can seem flattering and reasonable and so are able to attract many people. This is precisely why they are so dangerous. But how can we recognize them? There is a way to recognize false prophecies. All those thoughts and ideas that sadden our hearts and lives, leaving them barren and incapable of bearing good fruit for ourselves and others are false prophecies. If our hearts are full of themselves, they cannot bear fruits of love. On the contrary, if we cut back the branches of selfishness and let the Gospel work, we will bear fruits of good work. After listing the works of the flesh, the Apostle Paul proposes a list of the nine fruits of the Spirit of God: love, joy, peace, patience, benevolence, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control (Gal 5:22).
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
