Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Hebrews 5, 11-14
On this subject we have many things to say, and they are difficult to explain because you have grown so slow at understanding.
Indeed, when you should by this time have become masters, you need someone to teach you all over again the elements of the principles of God's sayings; you have gone back to needing milk, and not solid food.
Truly, no one who is still living on milk can digest the doctrine of saving justice, being still a baby.
Solid food is for adults with minds trained by practice to distinguish between good and bad.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The author of the Letter has just affirmed that Jesus is priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Before explaining what this mysterious title means, he reminds readers of the necessity of listening attentively to what he will say, so that they may be able to understand it. It is a reminder, which is opportune also for us, who are often distracted and little inclined to listen with attention and not superficially. It is easy to allow ourselves to be taken hold of by the habit of not stopping, of not listening, of not reflecting, also because the rhythms of daily life steamroll us and, moreover, tighten our concentration on ourselves. This bad habit is also reflected in the life of the Church. We know, indeed, as Paul affirms that if there is no listening, neither is there faith. Obviously, it is not enough to only physically hear the Word of God, but there also is need of an interior listening, that is, of allowing our hearts to be touched by the Lord. This is why the author condemns the lack of readiness to listen to and thus to obey to the promptings of the Spirit of God. As the author reminds us, in this case, that being children does not mean being “little” in the evangelical sense, that is, those who listen promptly to the Word of God without interposing obstacles, but resembling those impertinent children who want to impose their whims on all at any cost. In truth, it is also what happens to adults when they are secure in their own traditions and convictions and want to impose them on others, even on the Lord. They are just capricious children. And if the author presents this letter as “milk” and not as a “solid food” he does so with the pastoral wisdom of one, like a good mother, who wants to raise her child with patience and attention until the child’s heart and mind are able to receive more solid and robust food. We ought not to forget that the maturity in the Gospel is not the pride of self-sufficiency, but listening trustfully to the Lord; and that solid food can be accepted solely if one’s heart and one’s mind are in fact open to be nourished by the Word 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
