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
Luke 6, 20-26
Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he said: How blessed are you who are poor: the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are hungry now: you shall have your fill. Blessed are you who are weeping now: you shall laugh.
'Blessed are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of man.
Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, look!-your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.
But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have plenty to eat now: you shall go hungry. Alas for you who are laughing now: you shall mourn and weep.
'Alas for you when everyone speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The narrative of the Gospel according to Luke leads us today before one of the most significant pages of the Gospel: the proclamation of the Beatitudes. Jesus has before his eyes the Twelve, whom he wanted to call as his first collaborators and disciples, as well as the wider group of men and women who follow him and the people who rush in to listen to him. Jesus immediately begins to speak. He does not talk about doctrine or give an abstract speech that goes over the people’s heads. Instead, he wanted to show those who listened to him the way to achieve happiness. From his very first words we understand that he does not mean the kind of happiness of the dominant mentality, which proves mostly fallacious and misleading. How many times have we experienced the failure of these fake myths! Especially today in a society that endlessly consumes and chases after desires without creating anything stable. Even happiness becomes fluid, elusive, impossible to obtain. We see many around us who seek happiness by going down destructive paths. Moved by the loving compassion of God for the crowds then and today, Jesus wants to show us the way to happiness. With his Beatitudes, he shows us this way without saying many words. The evangelist Luke records only four phrases, four beatitudes. Jesus announces to the poor, the hungry, the abandoned and those who thirst for justice that they can finally be happy because God has chosen to stand beside them. For this reason they are “blessed”. They are loved by God and preferred by God compared to the many others who believe they are satisfied with themselves for having wealth and security. For the poor, the nearness of God and the disciples is a great joy. Normally excluded from life, they become God’s and his children’s privileged ones. The beatitude of the poor, as well as that of the hungry, those who weep, those disciples who are being persecuted, does not spring up from their sad and precarious conditions of life, but from the closeness that God bestows on them before others. In truth, being poor, afflicted, hungry, and insulted is not a good life. If Jesus says that they are blessed, it is because God has chosen to be with them first before others. And Jesus demonstrates God’s preferential option in person by his own example. The serious, but beautiful, task of making the poor feel God’s privileged love just as Jesus had done his entire life is entrusted to us believers. The rich, satisfied, and strong must be attentiveand often we are among their ranksbecause it is more difficult to be happy. With his “woe to you,” Jesus warns that it is vain to seek happiness in self-love and riches. The Way to Happiness is for the rich to spend their lives for the poor and the weak. This is the same invitation that Jesus extended to the young rich man. He repeats the invitation again today to all of us, often rich and satiated ourselves. Prayer with the Saints
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
