Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Christian communities in Africa Read more
Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Christian communities in Africa
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 3, 7-12
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea,
and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and Transjordan and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him.
And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed.
For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him.
And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, 'You are the Son of God!'
But he warned them strongly not to make him known.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Given the hostility of the Pharisees, Jesus left Capernaum and its synagogue in order to go to those crowds who heard him gladly. In fact, the crowds are often among the protagonists of the Gospel. To whatever city or region he goes, Jesus is always surrounded by crowds who gather around him. Many flock from all regions, as this passage recalls. They, like all the crowds, even those with no directions of today, are intrusive. They physically need someone who understands and can help them. This is why they continue to push: they want to get close, touch, and unload all of their pain and all of their hopes on that good man. Moreover, who else could they go to without being rejected? They know well that they find in Jesus a good and compassionate man who will never reject them. They are so confident of being heard that they become even intrusive. They “pressed upon him to touch him,” the evangelist notes. Those who are in need and do not resign grow inexorably intrusive. Jesus knows this. But he does not send away anyone. However, he does not want them to prevent him from carrying out his ministry. He decides to get on a boat to depart a little from the shore and be able to see all. It is easy to imagine that he starts talking again to them. It is a scene that is striking for its strength. That boat becomes a new pulpit for Jesus. And how not to see in it the image of the Church? We must ask ourselves seriously: where do the crowds today, more numerous than those of that earlier time, “touch” Jesus? Where can the many who are in need bring the baggage of their pain and their hopes and be healed and comforted? Shouldn’t our Christian communities today be the body of Jesus, which the poor and the weak can reach and “touch”? It is such a Church that our world needs, today even more than yesterday. The barriers posed by those who are doing well, whether individuals or nations, seem to grow in order to prevent the crowds of the poor, especially those in the southern hemisphere, even just lick their borders. How totally different from a crushing pressure! These barriers are inspired by those “unclean spirits” mentioned by the evangelist, who want to prevent that the words of Jesus reach the hearts of his listeners. The Gospel shows us that the power of Jesus is stronger than these spirits. The Lord gives his disciples his same power so that they may continue his mission of salvation.
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
