Memorial of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Israel today us the Memorial of the Shoah, in which the massacre of the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps is remembered. Read more
Memorial of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In Israel today us the Memorial of the Shoah, in which the massacre of the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps is remembered.
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 8, 1-11
and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.
The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle
they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery,
and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?'
They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.'
Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground.
When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle.
Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?'
'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'
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
The Gospel tells us an extraordinary story of mercy. Jesus went to the temple early in the morning. While he was speaking to the crowd that had come to listen to him, all of a sudden the circle of listeners was broken by a group of Pharisees and scribes who throw at Jesus’ feet a woman caught in the act of adultery. According to the law of Moses, this woman should have been stoned. But if the law was clear, the violence that had driven those scribes and Pharisees to throw that sinner in front of Jesus was even clearer. In front of such a violent scene, Jesus remains silent, leans down, as if to join the woman on the ground, and begins to write in the sand. The Lord of the word does not speak; it does not condemn. He loves that woman and wants to free her from evil. It is the accusers who continue to cry out and yell. But they are not concerned with the law or even less with the sinner. They want to accuse Jesus in order to discredit him in front of the people while he is teaching in the temple, the heart of their authority. The woman is also silent. She is well aware of the fact that her life hangs by a thread, on the words that might come from the mouth of the young prophet. The accusers cannot stand this silence and insist that Jesus speak. Jesus finally raises his head, turns to the accusing Pharisees, and says: Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Then he bends down again and continues to write. The evangelist notes somewhat wryly that they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Yes, they had come together - hatred always unites the servants of evil - but they left in a scattered way. It is a moment of truth. No one is left in the circle except Jesus and the woman: the merciful and the sinner. Jesus begins to speak in a tone he often took with difficult people: Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? ... Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. Jesus, the only one without sin, the only one who could have thrown a stone at her, speaks words of forgiveness and love. This is the Gospel of love that disciples need to accept and communicate to the world at the beginning of this new century, a world that has such a great need for forgiveness. It is not a question of condoning sin. Far from it. Every disciple knows this for him or herself. We are all adulterers, men and women who have betrayed the Lord’s love. And yet he has always remained faithful to us, and with incredible mercy, continues to forgive us. Like that adulteress, we are faced with Jesus and his mercy. We are also invited to listen to Jesus’ command to the woman, Go your way, and from now on do not sin again. God’s mercy does not gloss over evil. It demands that we change our hearts and distance ourselves from sin and evil. Mercy is not just a feeling. Accepting mercy is the beginning of salvation, because it frees us from the slavery of evil.
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
