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
Mark 1, 40-45
A man suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, 'If you are willing, you can cleanse me.'
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.'
And at once the skin-disease left him and he was cleansed.
And at once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him,
'Mind you tell no one anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.'
The man went away, but then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places. Even so, people from all around kept coming to him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus’ preaching in Galilee lasted several weeks, and during this period, he performed various miracles, including this one involving a leper. It is known that lepers were doomed to marginality, and what they could wish for was some alms. But, when he heard about Jesus, this leper did not resign. He wanted to heal. And, overcoming the limitation that prevented him from entering an inhabited place, he came to Jesus; after all, to whom else could he go, if not to Jesus? For fear of contagion, all kept him away from them. But Jesus welcomed him. It is a scene emblematic of how Jesus relates with the weakest. In that leper, we see the very numerous ranks of those who still today have no hope of healing and who are turned away from men and women for fear of contagion. Sometimes it is not only about individuals but also about entire peoples who are excluded from development, to which everyone is entitled. That leper knelt down and prayed for healing from the only person who did not chase him away: Jesus. Finally, the one who not only did not send away the weak and the poor, but also, and on the contrary, welcomed them had arrived - the one who even went towards them to the point of showing them predilection. The evangelist Mark notes that when Jesus saw him, he “was moved with pity.” This is the origin of the miracle, to be moved by compassion for the poor, for the weak, for the sick. Jesus, the compassionate, was touched in the heart by the invocation that was simple but full of confidence. That leper had realized that the young prophet had a good heart and that he was also strong that he was the only one, therefore, who could save him. Jesus listened to the prayer for healing of the leper and said, “I do choose, be made clean!” Then Jesus touched with his hand the leper who by law had to be considered untouchable. All three Synoptic Gospels note that Jesus touched the leper with his hand. Through this physical contact, Jesus healed him; he gave him back the dignity in the body and the right to live with all, without experiencing discrimination. Shouldn’t the many lepers of today have the same confidence that that leper reposed in the young prophet of Nazareth towards us, as the disciples of Jesus? From the encounter between the confidence of the leper and Jesus’ compassion gushed the miracle. It should happen even today. Perhaps in order to prevent the leper from being prosecuted because he had violated the prescription, Jesus warned him not to say anything, but to present himself to the priests and to make the offering as it was prescribed. The man, however, full of joy, could not refrain from disclosing the news, and he told the overflowing joy he felt. This Gospel scene is announced to us so that we, too, may hear the cry of the poor as Jesus did and listen to them, and with his help, “perform” the miracles that he did and we may thus expand the joy of the poor in our world.
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
