Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 10, 17-27
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.'
And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.'
Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.'
But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!'
The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.'
They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved?'
Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This page of the Gospel is among the ones which have marked most of the lives of many men and women who had begun to follow Jesus. It is a word that resonates loud even to our generation. Many are the people who run to someone who may give them happiness or who could show them a way to it. Often this run ends in the desert or worse, at the bottom of the ravines. The man, the Gospel tells about, ended that run by kneeling before Jesus. He summoned Jesus by calling him “good”; but Jesus corrected him: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” With this answer, which may appear exaggerated, Jesus ridicules the claim that we all have, to feel with a clear conscience, to feel good. This is indeed an excuse not to change our lives and hearts. Also the Pharisee felt to have a clear conscience and to be good when he went and prayed in the temple, but he went back home the same as before and not forgiven by God. That man had observed the commandments. He could feel with a clear conscience. However the issue for the believer is not to have a clear conscience, rather to decisively and humbly follow the Lord. Daily, Jesus keeps looking at us with love so that we not hold for ourselves too many of the possessions we have accumulated, and which burden our lives and slow down our following the Gospel. Possessions are not only material. They are all that which keeps us tied and imprisoned by our ego, by our habits, even by our way of being, or by our expectations that often move us away from the Lord. The only real wealth that is worth living is to become disciples of Jesus, to follow him: meaning walking after him and not ourselves or the many promises of our world. The latter are often real delusions that promise success and self-realization. The man chose for his possessions and went away sad. Sadness is often the result of selfishness, of self-love, which causes many fears. Of course we should be faithful to all commandments, but this is not all for Christians. Even more, the exclusive fulfilment of norms could hide the risk of self sufficiency. The true vocation of the disciple is following Jesus, going after him and living like him. To follow him our lives should not be linked to other possessions. Leaving behind what we have means not to believe that happiness relies on riches. Woe to those who are slaves of them, as it often happens. Let us trust the Lord with the humility of disciples, for only in Him we can find the joy we often seek unsuccessfully. If we do it we shall be free from possessions which keep us imprisoned, because “for God all things are possible.”
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
