Memory of St. Gregory the Great (540-604), pope and doctor of the Church. Read more
Memory of St. Gregory the Great (540-604), pope and doctor of the Church.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jude 1, 8-16
Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well.
Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, 'May the Lord rebuke you.'
But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand -- merely by nature like unreasoning animals -- will turn out to be fatal to them.
Alas for them, because they have followed Cain; they have thrown themselves into the same delusion as Balaam for a reward; they have been ruined by the same rebellion as Korah -and share the same fate.
They are a dangerous hazard at your community meals, coming for the food and quite shamelessly only looking after themselves. They are like the clouds blown about by the winds and bringing no rain, or like autumn trees, barren and uprooted and so twice dead;
like wild sea waves with their own shame for foam; or like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up for ever.
It was with them in mind that Enoch, the seventh patriarch from Adam, made his prophecy when he said, 'I tell you, the Lord will come with his holy ones in their tens of thousands,
to pronounce judgement on all humanity and to sentence the godless for all the godless things they have done, and for all the defiant things said against him by godless sinners.'
They are mischief-makers, grumblers governed only by their own desires, with mouths full of boastful talk, ready to flatter others for gain.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The apostle continues his letter showing the dangers of the false teachers, false because they are soothsayers and dreamers. They do not share the dream of God, but hold to their own dreams and prospects. We, too, must be attentive because it is not at all difficult for us to prefer our own dreams and ideas to the dream of the Lord. Pride is a powerful and subtle enemy because it infects our mind with a lofty consideration of ourselves and our wisdom. How often do we stubbornly feel sure of ourselves, thinking that we are the best masters over our lives? The apostle notes that even Michael the Archangel, who was called to defend Israel from the enemy’s attacks, while contending with the devil over Moses’ body, was careful not to become proud while inflicting condemnation. He left the judgment and power over life up to God. Only the Lord loves fully and rescues us from perdition. The apostle sternly warns that whoever wants to impose one’s own ideas, breeding division within community, ends up following the path of Cain. The path of Cain is one wrought with jealousy for his brother Abel. Jealousy leads to hate and hate leads to wilful homicide. But everyone who follows this path will perish just like those in Korah’s rebellion against Aaron and Moses. The apostle adamantly combats every attempt to undermine the order of the community. Only the Lord is the one, and no one else, who acquired all believers at a high price, drawing them out from under the authority of the powerful of this world. Anticipation of liberty pervades this letter and is made apparent by the harsh tones used against the false teachers. His letter is a lesson we should cherish and, above all, live out by allowing love to prevail at every cost.
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
