Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 9, 14-17
Then John's disciples came to him and said, 'Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?'
Jesus replied, 'Surely the bridegroom's attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth onto an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine in fresh skins and both are preserved.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John’s disciples, who lived a more austere life than Jesus, question him about this difference: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" We know that fasting held a pre-eminent place in Pharisaic piety, as it did in the piety of John’s disciples. This was in order to hasten the coming of the kingdom. In other places, the Gospel rebukes Pharisaic ostentation, but here it only speaks about fasting. Jesus answers with an image of the bridegroom’s arrival and compares his disciples to the friends who prepared and participated in the wedding, which obviously was meant to be a very festive moment. And in effect, as Jesus passed he created a new climate of joy and festivity, just like what is experienced at a wedding. With Jesus, the true "bridegroom" had come among men and women; or, even more, the Saviour of men and women. This is why the disciples, along with the poor, the sick, and the sinners, celebrated. They all felt themselves freed from the slavery of evil. This only came through endless struggle; for the moment, however, they could be joyful. Nonetheless, Jesus warns, difficult moments will come. They will come for Jesus himself: in this comment we can see the days of his Passion. But they will also come for the disciples and the communities. How can we not think of the innumerable persecutions that still happen to Jesus’ disciples today? First, however, we have to put on festive clothes and drink the wine of mercy because that will make us strong even in times of difficulty. The old wineskins of which Jesus speaks are the fossilized mental and religious patterns we have always had. The love of the Gospel demands new hearts - hearts freed from natural patterns and prejudices - that can welcome the very love of God. The religious leaders of Israel could not accept the novelty of a message that was too new for old categories. We should think of ourselves in the present day, as well. Resistance to the Word of God means closing ourselves to the Spirit in order to hang onto often fading traditions, shielding ourselves with what has always been done and what has always been thought. The Gospel of love frees us from all close-mindedness and restrictions in order to involve us in the wide horizons of God.
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
