Feast of Mary of Mount Carmel Read more
Feast of Mary of Mount Carmel
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 11, 25-27
At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.
Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Gospel passage quotes a prayer that Jesus addressed to His Father: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent you have revealed them to infants.” Jesus blesses and thanks his Father who has revealed the Gospel of the Kingdom to infants. A small group of men and women who follow him are in front of Jesus. Not many of them are wise and intelligent; most of them are fishermen, low-profile workers, people who do not belong to the upper-class. When any important people approached Jesus (like the wise Nicodemus), they were asked to “be born again,” to be little again; otherwise they could not enter the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom, indeed, belongs only to the little ones. The one who is little admits his/her limitations and frailties. He/she realizes a need for God, searches for Him and into His hands puts his existence. The passage, however, does not despise the wise and the learned. In fact, Jesus praises his Father, not because He has hidden the mystery of the Kingdom from the learned, but rather as a warning to those who think as the Scribes and the Pharisees, who are so pompous that they don’t need anyone, not even God. This feeling of self-sufficiency not only remains far from God, but easily turns into contempt for others. On the contrary, the disciple knows that all is from God and from Jesus who has revealed Him. We hardly feel like the wise and the learned mentioned in this passage. We are, practically speaking, wise about our habits, our judgments that prevent us from being amazed. We are so learned that we do not need to listen to anyone, anymore; we believe we can get along without others. Faith is the trust of the little ones who have not understood everything, but who feel powerful because they are loved and they obey Jesus’ words. Definitely, the little ones aren’t those who do not understand, or those who “believe anything.” Only trust, in fact, allows us to see what is otherwise invisible. The wise and the learned have eyes but can’t see, ears but they cannot hear. The closing words of the Gospel passage open the horizon on all believers of all time, including us. We all can be little: this is the way of humility, which really makes us great. Despite our meanness, the Lord chose us to share with Him God’s great dream for this world. The dream is to gather all people around God, to praise Him and live in peace.
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
