Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 11, 27-28
It happened that as he was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, 'Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that fed you!'
But he replied, 'More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus, as he often appears in the Gospels, is speaking to the crowds, teaching them the way they should walk to be saved. As usually happened, all were struck and astonished by the words which came forth from the mouth of that young prophet. In another part of the Gospel it is said that "he spoke with authority and not like the scribes." This astonishment makes a woman cry out from the crowd: "Blessed is the womb which bore you and the breasts which nursed you!" It is a brief passage in Luke’s Gospel. But, in its directness, it indicates what the central dimension in the life of the believer is, which moreover appears with extraordinary clarity in Mary’s attitude. That woman who among the crowd praised Mary wanted to express admiration for Jesus. Nevertheless, she also expressed the way of thinking of the world according to which everything occurs naturally. It is a temptation that insinuates itself with great ease also among us: it is easy to believe that everything depends on the character, the social conditions, in short, on one’s own nature. It is not so. And Jesus corrects that woman. True blessedness -Jesus is sayingdoes not lie in letting oneself be guided by spontaneity, by one’s own instincts or natural proclivities or character, but rather in hearing the Word of God. Jesus, in fact, replies to the woman: "Blessed rather those who hear the Word of God and obey it." And he thus manifests the true blessedness of Mary, his mother. She, in fact, having heard the Word of God communicated to her by the angel was able to participate in God’s great plan of love for the world as Mother of the Son. Paradoxically, if Mary had not given her consent, God would have had to choose another way in order to save humanity. It is the extraordinary -and also scaring/dreadfulmystery of a love which accepts the risk of human freedom. But the one who accepts it is taken up into the salvific plan of God. This is why we should rediscover the primacy of listening in our life as believers. Jesus corrected her: the Word of the Lord does not arise from worldly wisdom, but rather it is the Word which engenders a new life, heals the life that is ill, restores peace and enables hearts to be converted. Yes, listening and living the word makes us into true children 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
