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 12, 1-8
At that time Jesus went through the cornfields one Sabbath day. His disciples were hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them.
The Pharisees noticed it and said to him, 'Look, your disciples are doing something that is forbidden on the Sabbath.'
But he said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry-
how he went into the house of God and they ate the loaves of the offering although neither he nor his followers were permitted to eat them, but only the priests?
Or again, have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath day the Temple priests break the Sabbath without committing any fault?
Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple.
And if you had understood the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless.
For the Son of man is master of the Sabbath.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Pharisees waste no occasion to think ill of Jesus (and of his disciples), and to accuse him. We can identify Pharisaism with the attitude of those who seek to save themselves by accusing others, even taking cover behind some rule. It is a subtle way of being evil. The Pharisees rebuke Jesus because he allows the disciples to pluck grains as they make their way on the Sabbath day. But he responds with two examples which show their narrow-mindedness and blindness. And he especially underlines, with Hosea’s words, God’s largeness of heart: "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice" (Hos 6:6). The Lord does not desire the cold and external observance of norms, but the heart of the believer. It is not about disdaining norms. Nevertheless, above all norms there’s compassion, which is a gift to be asked of God, since it does not come from our character or our traits, but from God. In truth that dimension was always presented by biblical revelation. In some Jewish commentaries, for example, one reads: "The Sabbath has been given to you, not you to the Sabbath." And some commentators explain that the rabbis knew that an exaggerated religiosity could imperil the fulfilment of the essence of the law: "Nothing is more important, according to the Torah, than saving a human life ... Even when there is only the slightest possibility that a life is at risk, one can disregard every prohibition of the law." Jesus exalts the spirit of the law which leads one to place God and humans at the centre of the law. In short, he gives it its genuine interpretation. The Sabbath shows God’s loving presence in human life. The Lord Jesus is the loving face of God. This is why he repeats that he wants mercy and not sacrifice.
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
