EVERYDAY PRAYER

Liturgy of the Sunday
Word of god every day

Liturgy of the Sunday

Forth Sunday of Lent Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, March 30

Homily

“Rejoice! Exult and be happy you who were in sadness: satiate yourself with the abundance of your consolation!” This is what we recited at the beginning of this Holy Liturgy, which for this reason is called “Laetare.” Can we be happy during Lent? For us, who put our happiness in having everything, it seems impossible to be glad. And yet the Liturgy insists, “Rejoice!” In fact, the Lord does not ask for sacrifices, but mercy. “Rejoice!” The Lord liberates us, like the blind man in today’s Gospel, from the seeds of enmity that distance us from others and render our lives sad.
All those who passed by saw the poor begging man. Only a few tossed him a coin and then continued on their way. Jesus instead sees him and stops; he does not pass by. Even the disciples look at him. But they look at him differently from the way Jesus does. For the disciples the blind man is the cause of a dispute; they concern themselves more with theory than with that poor man. One could say that their question was quite an important one: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” According to Judaism at the time, misfortune was the result of sin: God punished man in proportion to his sin. This concept has continued throughout the centuries and pervades the mentality of many Christians today. It is not rare to hear people say that God is at the source of this or that mishap. And how many people, in the wake of disasters, exclaim, “But what bad did I do to warrant the Lord punishing me in this way?” This concept is completely wrong, sad, and absolutely offensive to the Lord-- as if God were spying on our weaknesses in order to strike us down even further.
In this Gospel passage, Jesus rails against this concept: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” He does not want to respond to the theoretical (and certainly dramatic) question about the presence of pain and disease in this world. Rather, Jesus wants to demonstrate clearly God’s attitude before evil. The Lord does not inflict pain upon his children; on this point Jesus is categorical. Nor is he indifferent to the tragedies and diseases that fall upon us. God comes to our assistance to save us, to heal us from the evil that strikes us. This is how it is with the blind man in the Gospel. While the disciples discuss whether the man is more or less at fault for his condition, Jesus loves him, draws closer to him, and touches him with tenderness. The affectionate closeness of Jesus heals the man from his blindness. In that hand that touches, the mystery of God’s love is revealed. Yes, mystery is not an incomprehensible reality. Rather, the harshness and wickedness of men are incomprehensible. Mystery is not an untouchable reality. Unfortunately, it is true that often we are so distant from one another that we are unable to love or speak with one another. But when Jesus’ hand reaches out and touches the man, we behold mystery and are able to comprehend how great God’s love is for us.
Jesus does not respond to the abstract question about who is at fault (“Neither this man nor his parents sinned”), but he heals that man. Jesus opens the man’s eyes so that God’s work may manifest itself; that manifestation is a life free of evil. The Lord does not condemn, hiding behind cold justice, as do the Pharisees; God does not make others responsible for everything. Rather, Jesus bears the burden of weakness and heals: he stops, speaks, reaches out his hand, and invites the blind man to wash himself in the pool of Siloam. The blind man “went and washed and came back able to see.” It is an indication also for us who often are blind with open eyes. How many times we do not see anything but ourselves? We need to regain our sight again. How do we regain our sight? Like the blind man did: listening to the word of Jesus, the Gospel, and by taking seriously his word.
The people do not believe that the healed man could possibly be the same mendicant they knew before. According to the world, it is impossible to change. The Pharisees are even annoyed by the change the blind man undergoes. They should rejoice for a man who was once blind but now can see, for someone who had has rediscovered hope, smile and joy. But the Pharisees are distant from life and devoid of passion for others. They are concerned with appearances and conservation of their power. So they cast him away, indifferent to his joy; rather they want to humiliate him. They are quick not to let him forget all of the sin into which he was born! For them punishment comes from God and is a condemnation. A cold heart, justice without love, and words without goodness truly do not change anything in life. There is need to love, to extend the hand to those in need, to stop, to speak. Only in this way, by meeting others as Jesus did, can we help those who cannot see find their sight. Again Jesus meets that blind man. He looks into his heart and seeks in him a friend, a disciple. “Lord, I believe!” says that man who had been blind. His is the profession of faith of a man who, loved, recognizes in love the face of God. This is the light of Jesus, light that overcomes evil, light that illuminates life and renders it eternal.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR