Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 11, 20-24
Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.
'Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Still, I tell you that it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on Judgement Day than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be raised as high as heaven? You shall be flung down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet.
Still, I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on Judgement Day than for you.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
We are struck by the passionate love of Jesus which, in turn, scolds our hardness of heart. We are sure that we should not rebuke or admonish anyone for anything because to do so interferes with the idol of individualism to which we are faithful. Actually we are lazy, full of judgment and reluctant to take the responsibility of helping who is sinning. Jesus loves and therefore helps to recognise one’s own sin. He reproaches his generation since they rejected the preaching of John the Baptist and are treating his in the same way. In other words, they were too deaf to welcome the redeeming design as presented by the Baptist. And now they also refuse Jesus’ message. Then Jesus turns to two towns of Galilee near Capernaum and addresses them indignantly: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!” The accusation concerns the refusal of both towns to accept the preaching of Jesus, despite the significant number of miracles that he carried out among their inhabitants. It is not simply an accusation of a life led astray, as it was for Sodom and Gomorra, but of the obstinacy of the inhabitants of the two cities to welcome the Gospel into their hearts and to repent. Jesus remembers two ancient pagan cities, Tyre and Sidon, which would have repented and done penance if they had seen the miracles carried out in Chorazin and Bethsaida. There is a discomforting cry by Jesus, who sees the failure of years of his preaching and caring action towards all. There is a mystery in the inability to welcome; it can only be understood in a hardened heart that cannot listen or welcome whatever comes from outside oneself. Self-sufficiency and pride necessarily bring closure to the heart and mind. Therefore, we can understand the very harsh sentence of Jesus upon the two towns. Jesus also addresses Capernaum, where he dwelled with his disciples. He is very hard on Capernaum too: “You will be brought down to Hades.” Jesus seems to speak not only to the inhabitants but to the very towns. Actually, there is a link between the inhabitants of a town and the town they live in. We could say that an associated life is the result of the quality of life of the inhabitants. If there is little interest in a communal way of life and if everyone thinks only of his/her own business, the town destroys it. Hell begins in this way, from the selfishness in human hearts. Christians are responsible for the city where they live. They have to be its soul, so that the city, the men and women who live there, may be helped to live in peace and harmony.
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
