The Eastern and Western Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, the "greatest of those born of women," who prepared the way for the Lord. Read more
The Eastern and Western Churches remember the birth of John the Baptist, the "greatest of those born of women," who prepared the way for the Lord.
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
Luke 1, 57-66.80
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son;
and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had lavished on her his faithful love, they shared her joy.
Now it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother spoke up. 'No,' she said, 'he is to be called John.'
They said to her, 'But no one in your family has that name,'
and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called.
The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they were all astonished.
At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God.
All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea.
All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. 'What will this child turn out to be?' they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
Meanwhile the child grew up and his spirit grew strong. And he lived in the desert until the day he appeared openly to Israel.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Church today celebrates the birth of John the Baptist. It is a very ancient feast of the Church. Together with Mary, John is the only saint whose birthday we remember. And this is because their lives are inexplicable without a reference to Jesus: they were born for Jesus, one in order to be mother, the other in order to prepare his way. In the Byzantine iconostasis they are represented next to the central door, Christ, in the act of inviting the faithful to turn their gaze toward Him. John was born to show humanity the way that leads to Jesus. He is revered in Islam, also: his relics are kept in the mosque of the Umayyad in Damascus. The evangelist narrates his birth in a way parallel to that of Jesus. The gaze of the Lord had come upon him too. The angel appears to Zechariah while he carries out his service in the temple and gives him the news of the birth of a son. The announcement is absolutely improbable, since his wife Elizabeth was already sterile. The angel insists and even suggests to Zechariah the name he should give the child: "You shall call him John" (i.e., "God is gracious"). The birth of the Baptist opens a new life for the two old parents, while all hopes seemed to vanish because of Elizabeth’s sterility. That son is the fruit of the angel’s word, and his name is totally new; we are all fruit of God’s love, no one of us has been born by chance. We have been born to be disciples of Jesus and to prepare the hearts of human beings to receive him.
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
