Memorial of Martin Luther King, killed on April 4, 1968 in Memphis. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice Read more
Memorial of Martin Luther King, killed on April 4, 1968 in Memphis. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
John 7, 1-2.10.25-30
After this Jesus travelled round Galilee; he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near,
However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.
Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, 'Isn't this the man they want to kill?
And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have recognised that he is the Christ?
Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.'
Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: You know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of my own accord: but he who sent me is true; You do not know him,
but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me.
They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
With this passage, the evangelist John enters into the most heated controversies between Jesus and those who oppose him. Jesus, who is still in Galilee, does not want to go to Jerusalem because he does not want to fall into the hands of the Pharisees, who have become openly his enemies. But, with the Festival of Booths approaching, Jesus decides to go to the temple with his companions without drawing too much attention. While in Jerusalem, however, Jesus is probably recognized and immediately a debate breaks out among the people. By now it was known that the leaders of the people wanted to kill him to keep him from preaching. And with some irony the people wondered whether by chance the Pharisees had recognized him as the Messiah. But, revealing their disbelief, they add that they know where Jesus is from. According the traditions of the time, the origins of the Messiah would not be known, so it seemed unlikely that Jesus was the Messiah. At this point Jesus once again begins to teach publicly in the temple and unmasks their disbelief. He replies that he is very aware of where he is from and that he knows who sent him to be with humanity. You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’ These few words contain the essence of his preaching. Those who listen to him and follow him walk on the path of salvation, which means knowing the Father who sent him and accepting his plan of salvation for the world. The knowledge of which Jesus speaks is closely tied to his own: it is a knowledge that comes from acceptance, obedience, and a complete willingness to carry out the will of the Father, that is, the salvation of all men and women. This Gospel is rejected by his listeners, who, like their leaders, now try to arrest him. It is a story that often repeats itself and in which we ourselves are sometimes complicit. How often have we tried to lay hands on the Gospel, to limit its power to change, to wound it with our repeated betrayals, or to imprison it in the web of our habits, rituals, and small-mindedness! But no one was able to stop Jesus. The evangelist John makes it abundantly clear that it was not Jesus’ persecutors who eliminated him. They do not have the strength. It is Jesus himself who will turn himself over to his persecutors and let them carry him to the cross. He is the one who gives his life for us. Jesus presents himself as the sacrament of the Father’s limitless love for all men and women.
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
