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 15, 21-28
Jesus left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And suddenly out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, 'Lord, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.'
But he said not a word in answer to her. And his disciples went and pleaded with him, saying, 'Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us.'
He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.'
But the woman had come up and was bowing low before him. 'Lord,' she said, 'help me.'
He replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to little dogs.'
She retorted, 'Ah yes, Lord; but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters' table.'
Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted.' And from that moment her daughter was well again.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew writes that Jesus "left" the region of Galilee and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon (modern day Lebanon), the ancient, rich and bustling Phoenecian maritime and mercantile cities. Jesus goes to this region probably to rest awhile or perhaps to stay with his disciples to teach them in a quiet place. But immediately a Canaanite woman appeared. The Evangelist wants to underline that they found themselves outside of the territory of Israel and that the woman appearing before Jesus was considered an enemy of the chosen people. The Canaanites were indeed the ancient inhabitants of this region that the Jews had defeated and removed from there. Perhaps it was not by chance that the woman called Jesus "Son of David." Evidently, Jesus’ fame had spread beyond national boundaries. She wants this good man to heal her daughter who is "tormented by a demon." At first, Jesus seems annoyed, but she insists. It is almost as if there is a competition between her and the young prophet: a desperate prayer on one side and silence on the other. The disciples are troubled. "Send her away," they say hurriedly. Jesus responds saying that his mission is limited to Israel. Desperate, the woman continues: "Lord, help me!" And Jesus appears even harsher: "It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs." In the Biblical tradition, the term "dogs" referred to adversaries, sinners and pagan idolatric peoples. But the woman capitalizes on the allusion and says: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table." Even the dogs, the excluded, would content themselves with the crumbs, if they were thrown to them. This pagan woman dares to resist Jesus; even more, she engages in a back and forth with him. We could say that her faith in him was greater than his own resistence. And hence Jesus responds, in the end, with a phrase quite unusual in the Gospels: he says "great" is her faith, not "little" is her faith. It is the same elogy Jesus gives the centurion, and both he and the woman are pagans. Once again the Gospel proposes to us the importance of trust in God, which frees us from the anxiety of trusting only in ourselves and in human beings. This woman’s faith convinces Jesus to heal her daughter. The Evangelist writes: "Then Jesus answered her, Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly." Not even God can resist such a faith.
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
