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 8, 19-21
His mother and his brothers came looking for him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd.
He was told, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.'
But he said in answer, 'My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke the evangelist places this episode right after the parable of the sower and of the lamp which must show its light. This is not by accident. He wants to underline how central hearing the Word of God is in the life of the Church and of every Christian community. His family is made up of those who hear him and try to put his word into practice. Luke tells us that Jesus’ relatives, perhaps to take him away from the life he had undertaken which resulted in not a few inconveniences even to the whole kindred, decide to seek him out perhaps to dissuade him or in any case to stop his activity. When they arrive in the place where Jesus was, they find him surrounded by so many crowds that they cannot get close to him. They tell a bystander to go and tell the young rabbi that his mother and his brothers are outside waiting for him. It is not without meaning that the evangelist notes that the relatives remained "outside" with respect to those who were "inside" listening to that Teacher. Jesus, notified of his relatives’ presence, answers that his true family is made up of those who are around him and listen to him. Anyone who is "outside," even if related by blood, is not part of his family. The Gospel creates a new family, not made up by natural bonds, but joined by the stronger bonds that are fruit of the action of the Spirit. Being part of this family requires listening to the Gospel and the commitment to put it into practice. And Mary, Jesus’ mother, is the example for all. She had been the first to believe the Word of God communicated by the angel, as Luke recounts: "Behold, let it be unto me as you have said." And Elizabeth, knowing Mary had this attitude, pronounced over her the first beatitude of the Gospel: "and blessed is the one who believed in the fulfilment of the words of the Lord." Mary remains the first of the believers, the example that each disciple should follow in "keeping" in his or her own heart all that has to do with Jesus.
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
