Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 3, 31-35
Now his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.
A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, 'Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.'
He replied, 'Who are my mother and my brothers?'
And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers.
Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The evangelist Mark continues to show Jesus in a house, surrounded by large crowds. While he is speaking, his relatives arrive with Mary. The evangelist does not say the reason for their visit. But it is not hard to imagine that they were probably worried about Jesus’ exaggerate’ behaviours or even because they knew that the Pharisees were watching him, so much so that some had come from Jerusalem. They wanted to see him and talk to him. Tired perhaps from the trip they came from Nazareth they did not wait for Jesus to finish talking and instead sent someone to tell him of their arrival. The crowd was great and they were “outside.” This notation is not simply a question of space. Those relatives were outside, that is they were not among those who were listening to the young prophet. We can already deduce from this notation that it is not blood ties or the bonds of a customary ritual, that lead to being true family of Jesus. Only those inside the house, that is, only those who hear the Word of God personally, are part of the new family that Jesus came to form. In fact, answering those who told him that his mother with his brothers were outside, Jesus “looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!” With this clear and sharp statement, Jesus indicates who is part of his new family, the Church; the members of this family are those who listen to the Gospel. It is from this listening that the Christian community is born; it is upon the Word of God that the house is built. The Word of God is the rock that supports each community, the whole Church. And this community - it should be noted carefully - it is not an association whatsoever. It has the traits of the “family.” The Church must live as a family, that is, with those bonds that are typical of this institution. The members of the family must be really family’ to the father and among each other. In this sense, the familiarity of relationships with Jesus and with others is crucial. We must be careful not to fall into the temptation to believe we are family because we observe some rituals and practice some good work. The closeness with Jesus has the traits of the relationship that we have with family, that is full of spirit, of human strength, of passionate belonging, and of free love. This is the meaning of discipleship. To be a disciple requires attentive and ready listening to Jesus’ words and the involvement of our lives with him. It is not enough, in fact, to be part of the group of Christians to be disciples, like those “relatives” felt their relationship with Jesus. Every day, we have to get “inside” the community and listen to the Gospel as it is preached to us. One is not a disciple once and for all! We need to stay close to Jesus and listen to his word every day. If we live in this way, Jesus will turn his eyes filled with love on us and we will hear him say, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” It is the bliss of being his disciples, not for our special merits, but only because we listen to his word and try to put it into practice.
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
