EVERYDAY PRAYER

Liturgy of the Sunday
Word of god every day

Liturgy of the Sunday

Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, June 17

Homily

When we read the gospels, we immediately realize that the theme of the kingdom of God is central in Jesus’ preaching. From the very beginning of his Gospel, Mark characterizes Jesus’ preaching in this sense. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news" (1:15), the young prophet proclaims to those he meets in the streets and squares of Galilee. He does not simply proclaim the existence of the Kingdom - a truth his listeners knew well - but rather that the kingdom has come closer to men and women. Thus there is no time to waste: it is necessary and urgent to decide to "repent and believe." Those who refuse to become involved endanger their very own salvation. The Kingdom is not, like some could think, far from coming, a future event that does not personally regard its listeners. On the contrary the kingdom has come near; even more, it is among us. That is to say salvation is already available today. This is why evil and its power are defeated at their root. The time of their triumph is ended and their complete ruin has started. This is the Good News, the Gospel that Jesus came to bring to people and for which he asks us to repent. The decisiveness of such a proclamation urges Jesus to use any tool including the literary genre of the parables so that his listeners may understand the arrival of the Kingdom and its work in the life of human beings. Jesus knows well that the salvation of his listeners depends on this truth which is not just one of many truths to be learned, but is the very heart of his message. Thus parables do not want to hide the mystery of the kingdom, on the contrary, they try to involve the listeners more efficaciously through clear images that help to understand the mystery concealed in them.
The gospel passage this Sunday reports two parables of the Kingdom. The first tells a very well known fact to its listeners; Jesus says, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground;" once the time of sowing is finished the farmer patiently, and without too much concern, waits for the time of the harvest. The earth produces fruits of itself, "automatically" says the Greek text. Then the time of harvesting will come and the farmer will be able to collect the crops of his fields. Jesus calls the attention of his listeners to the "work" that the seed does from the time it is sowed to the time of harvest. It does this because of its internal energy. There is no doubt that Jesus wants to console his listeners. The Christian community to which Mark was speaking was living very difficult moments of persecution. Undoubtedly, the believers were wondering what power the Gospel had, and why evil and difficulties seemed to win over everything. Did Jesus die and rise in vain? At times we too, though in different situations from the community of Mark, think similarly. How many times, for example, do we hear sentences like: "How come that after so many years of Gospel preaching, the world is still so full of wickedness?" or "Where is the kingdom of god and His power?" Well - Jesus answers - once the seed is scattered on the soil, it sprouts and produces fruit; the same is true for the Kingdom of God. Believers should know that the very lord is working in our life and in him we should put all our trust. The Kingdom is near because the lord is close; the Kingdom works because the lord works. Obviously Jesus does not want to decrease our commitment, nor does he want to invite us to sleep and relax in the conviction that the Kingdom will grow and develop no matter what. The Gospel passage underlines the reality that God's sovereignty over evil is now definitive.
The following parable compares the Kingdom of God to a small seed, rather the smallest of all, a mustard seed. Obviously the insistence on the smallness of the seed is not accidental. Great things are not achieved because one is powerful or great. What happens in the Kingdom of God is exactly the opposite of what happens among people. Jesus says to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave." The one who becomes small and humble produces much fruit. When the small mustard seed grows it becomes a shrub three meters tall, and the birds can rest in it and even nest there. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God develops in the same way as this small seed. Therefore the Kingdom does not impose itself with external power and grandiosity, nor does it follow the reasoning of the world. On the contrary, it chooses the way of weakness in order to affirm the amazing energy of love. It manifests that the little ones, the weak, the sick and the excluded are privileged in order to reveal the extraordinary power of mercy. Where the kingdom reigns, the hungry are satiated, the afflicted consoled, the poor welcomed, the sick healed, the lonely comforted, the prisoners visited and the enemy loved. Where there is the Kingdom, there is love. This reality changes many things. We could say that you do not go to Paradise if you do charitable deeds; rather you go to Paradise when you live charity.
The new aspect of this gospel preaching consists in the strong connection Jesus puts between himself, his work and the Kingdom. Jesus is the Kingdom, he identifies with it. He is the seed scattered in the heart of men and women, a small seed that is weak, mistreated, insulted, rejected, and even more, removed from us. And yet this "seed," scattered on the soil, once dead, is risen and now through disciples, the mystical body, extends its branches to the ends of the earth. The prophet Ezekiel, while an exile in Babylon, foresaw that a weak branch, such as the top of a cedar, would become a robust and welcoming tree. "I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar" (Ez 17:22-23). If the disciples are involved with, or better, overwhelmed by the small book of the Gospels, they can become part of the Kingdom of God and be its humble servants.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR