Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 9, 38-40
John said to him, 'Master, we saw someone who is not one of us driving out devils in your name, and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.'
But Jesus said, 'You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name could soon afterwards speak evil of me.
Anyone who is not against us is for us.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Citing the episode of the healer “foreign” to the group, Mark connects to a unique tradition. Jesus clearly appears as a master absolutely open and ready to receive the good from any place; not only does he not remain closed within his group, but he requires that his disciples not follow a sectarian spirit. All those who do good are acceptable to God, because God is the source of every good and righteous thing. The words Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever is not against us is for us,” are a reservoir of wisdom and a strong help so that all disciples may open their hearts to others as the Lord did. This Gospel page sounds very topical in our contemporary world, where new ethnic walls and barriers are built, again opposing one group to another. The Gospel helps us to understand and recognize what is good and beautiful in the world and in the hearts of men and women. And the disciples should appreciate it. Anyone who works with charity is welcomed by the Lord, as is stated also in the Gospel of Matthew 25 about the universal judgment. Jesus links salvation to the offer of a simple glass of water to the thirsty. This means that charity is the way to salvation for all, even for non-believers. The apostle Paul follows the same line of thought when he writes, “What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice” (Phil 1:18). This openness and availability do not mean at all underselling Christianity and endorsing an attitude of indifference, and even less a relinquishing of Christians’ own identity. The Word of God is demanding and calls all to conversion, but it is also deeply sympathetic with the good that may sprout in every human being. In a world like ours, where we compete and differentiate one from the other, at times considering ourselves the best and despising our neighbour, Jesus’ rebuke is particularly significant and against the current. Right from the power of our Christian faith and identity, the Gospel makes us able to discern and appreciate the good people do, so that it might be supported and may contribute to building a better world. This is the sense of commitment to dialogue that the Community of Sant’Egidio lives, and through which it strives to encourage the energy of peace in the heart of every person belonging to any culture or religion. Indeed, we are all created in the “image and likeness” 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
