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Liturgy of the Sunday
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Liturgy of the Sunday

Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, June 16

Homily

The Gospel reading for this eleventh Sunday of ordinary time has us enter the house of a Pharisee by the name of Simon, who had invited Jesus to eat with him. While they were at table, a woman in the city - “who was a sinner,” says the evangelist - entered and drew close to Jesus. Crying, she lay down at his feet and washed them with her tears, and then began to dry them with her hair and anoint them with perfumed oil. This scene is truly extraordinary in every sense of the word. One can imagine the reaction of those present, given the customs of that time. Their reaction is not only one of annoyance with the woman who had entered the house and interrupted their meal, but also of severe judgment of Jesus, who allows her to continue even though he does not know who she is. Jesus appears to the dinner guests to ‘not get it’ and to be foreign to the ways of the world, or that his Gospel is “unrealistic.” In reality, it is they who do not comprehend the woman’s love for Jesus and her desire to be forgiven. Even less do they understand Jesus’ love. Simon even thinks he can get away with inconspicuously criticizing his guest, as he says, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner.” Simon shows his hardness of heart in his inability to comprehend the outpouring of sentiments of love and tenderness in that moment. He was so consumed by his judgment and prejudices that he had become blind in his heart; unlike Jesus, who reads the secrets of the heart, welcomed the woman and allowed her to express her love, her shame, and her request for understanding, forgiveness and love. In this significant moment, Jesus feels the need to explain with a parable what is happening, because it was so important. In effect, this episode expresses the heart of the Gospel, or better, the heart of God and, at the same time, our distance from God.
This is why Jesus turns directly to Simon. Jesus does not do as Simon does, judge in secret. Jesus speaks clearly with love and affection and says to Simon, “I have something to say to you” and he tells him a parable. This is the method that Jesus always employs, speaking directly to the mind and heart of whoever is in front of him. He did not come to explain some doctrine or new theory. Jesus came to transform the hearts and lives of all peoples. He came to save us, rendering us more human and less insensible. The parable he tells is about a creditor who had two debtors, one owing a large sum and the other only a little, and who cancelled both of their debts. Simon answers correctly to the question which of the two ought to be the most grateful, but he is unaware that he is being accused by way of his answer. Jesus turns toward the woman and speaks to Simon, making him aware of how different his behaviour is compared to the woman’s love for him. Simon’s withholding of love was exposed while the woman’s love was made evident to all. “She has not stopped kissing my feet,” Jesus says, moved with compassion, and he adds, “Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love.” In Jesus’ affirmation we the see the primacy of love about which Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical. Love always comes from God. Even if it is distorted or misguided, there is still a spark that if fanned can start a healthy fire. This is what happened at that meal. Jesus knew how to welcome that woman and ignite in her the spark of love. This is why he turns directly to her and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Our love for the Lord makes His heart bend towards us and burn away our sins, giving us the strength for a new life. The narrow-mindedness of the guests, however, prevented them from understanding these Gospel words and from sharing in the joy of the woman who had rediscovered the joy of living and loving.
Perhaps it is not by chance that the evangelist continues to narrate that Jesus went on through the streets of Galilee in the company of the twelve disciples and some women, teaching and performing miracles, such as casting out demons and healing the sick. The evangelist intends to say that Jesus’ love continues to go about the paths of humanity so that all may be saved from the coldness of this world that does not know how to love. It is significant that wherever Jesus goes he immediately creates among the people an atmosphere of new hope, of spontaneous festivity, and arouses a heightened expectation of new life. Exemplary of this new life is the group of women who were with Jesus and who accompanied him wherever he went. Luke writes that they “had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities” and had begun to follow Jesus. They were full participants in that new community and even provided for it out of their own resources. Luke makes this important observation because it shows clearly how much Jesus went beyond the norms of that time. It would have been unimaginable for a rabbi to allow women into the circle of disciples. And yet, Jesus associates them with his very mission, as is apparent in other pages of the Gospel. We should cherish this fact because it shows us that no one is excluded from participating in the community of disciples, and no one is exempt from the co-responsibility of communicating the Gospel.

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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!

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