Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 7, 7-12
'Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.
Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?
Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you, then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
'So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus, after giving us the “Our Father,” again insists on prayer effectiveness. He does it in a very clear way: “Ask and it will be given to you”. Jesus knows that it is easy to be deviated by doubt and uncertainty. And he urges us not to mistrust the Lord and His love. We are His children and He is like a father attentive to our prayer. We are all called to rediscover the power of prayer in our “making and acting” societies where the part of Martha triumphs, but much less the one of Mary, which is the better part and it will not ever be taken from us. In order to make us understand this teaching, Jesus gives an easy and self-evident example: can a father be death to his children’s invocation? But, looking at the incredulous looks of the disciples, Jesus insists again so that all uncertainty may be dissipated: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.” This certainty it should be noticed is not based on our prayer quality (obviously necessary); rather it is based on God’s mercy and goodness with no limits. Jesus continues to present God as a loving father who, obviously, cannot but give good things to his children. Jesus warns: if earthly fathers do not give stones when children ask for a loaf of bread, how much more your Heavenly Father truly good! will take care and will protect His children. The Gospel passage closes with a provision called the “Golden Rule” and which is present also in other religious traditions: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.” These words, lived by Jesus, acquire the novelty of a love with no limits. He gave us his love as a gift without expecting any return from us. It is the golden rule of everyday life. It is enough thinking about how much we demand attention, love, consideration, and more from others. If every day we committed to give others what we want for ourselves, we would make our lives nicer and less dominated by the selfishness that makes us always ready to demand and late in giving to others. If we think about what the Lord gives us beyond our merits, then we will learn the great value of gratuitousness in love, which is unique to Christian life.
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
