Muslims celebrate the end of fast during the month of Ramadan (Aid-al-Fitr) Read more
Muslims celebrate the end of fast during the month of Ramadan (Aid-al-Fitr)
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 4, 31-37
He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath.
And his teaching made a deep impression on them because his word carried authority.
In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil, and he shouted at the top of his voice,
'Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.'
But Jesus rebuked it, saying, 'Be quiet! Come out of him!' And the devil, throwing the man into the middle, went out of him without hurting him at all.
Astonishment seized them and they were all saying to one another, 'What is it in his words? He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.'
And the news of him travelled all through the surrounding countryside.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus, expelled from Nazareth, chooses to stay in Capernaum, a small city that becomes "his city." It is precisely here, in the city, that Jesus’ preaching starts off. Luke presents him while he is teaching and a man possessed by an evil spirit begins to cry out: "Let us alone! What have you to do with us?" Jesus commands the evil spirit to leave that man, and it promptly leaves him. Everyone, Luke writes, was frightened and asked themselves who this might be who spoke so authoritatively that he could even cast out unclean spirits. We don’t really know what the Gospel accounts mean when they speak about these spirits; they were, in any case, capable of entering into human life to the point of disturbing physical and psychic functioning. But if we think of the distortions and the anguish that so often are produced in our cities, I think we are not far from understanding this Gospel passage. The evil spirits of which the Gospel speaks are not unfamiliar spirits, unknown; we know them well and perhaps they are a bit present in all of us, too. It is that spirit of indifference, of gossip, of love only for oneself, of fear of being cast aside, of fear of not counting for anything in anyone’s affection; a spirit that is abusive to others; a distrustful spirit that leads to anguish and violence; a spirit of selfishness which pushes us to move forward without bothering about others; a hateful spirit of big and small vendettas. And how many other "evil" spirits, unclean, whirl among us and ruin our lives and our relations with others, often making us lonelier and sadder! How can we cast out these spirits? How can we keep them far from our lives and the lives of others? The Gospel tells us that extraordinary powers, precisely the kind that even unclean spirits obey, are given to us by faith, by the word of the Gospel and by friendship with Jesus. How often, on the other hand, do we not seek out powers and therapies in so many directions while we have close to us he who can keep them far off authoritatively? The true authority that is able to cure and resolve so many human situations is friendship and loving closeness to Jesus. And this is the authority that Jesus exercised towards all and which he has asked be also exercised by his disciples.
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
