Memorial of the historic Meeting in Assisi (1986), when John Paul II invited representatives of all Christian confessions and the great world religions to pray for peace Read more
Memorial of the historic Meeting in Assisi (1986), when John Paul II invited representatives of all Christian confessions and the great world religions to pray for peace
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 13, 10-17
One Sabbath day he was teaching in one of the synagogues,
and there before him was a woman who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that crippled her; she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright.
When Jesus saw her he called her over and said, 'Woman, you are freed from your disability,'
and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.
But the president of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he addressed all those present saying, 'There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath.'
But the Lord answered him and said, 'Hypocrites! Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering?
And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years -- was it not right to untie this bond on the Sabbath day?'
When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel presents Jesus teaching, as is his custom, in a synagogue. Among those present is a woman with a severe form of arthritis that bent her over herself. She had lived 18 years in this very painful condition. She was so deformed that she could not look people in the face. And in turn, no one lowered themselves to look her in the face. Obviously this was not just an issue of external behaviour. She was forced to live alone and her pain by herself. The hardness of others had conditioned her to resign herself to her fate. How often does the indifference of others make us resigned to our own sad condition! And how many women like her, are enslaved to oppression and violence! This woman just stood in front of Jesus. She could neither lift up her gaze nor dare to ask for help, as other women had done before. She just stood there; she came to listen to this good and gentle prophet. When he sees her, Jesus is moved and calls out to her to draw closer. Without many words, Jesus says to her, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Perhaps we can imagine Jesus bending down towards her and looking her in the eye, showing everyone his wholehearted compassion and telling her that he is giving her back her dignity. Through this simple scene of Jesus bending over this woman, we can understand what the attitude of believers should be towards the weak and the sick and how they should look at them. Yet there is another hidden teaching, that is, the strength of words heals. Believers in Jesus have received the same strength that Jesus had as a gift: heartfelt and compassionate words like those of Jesus are effective; they lift people out of self-resignation just as happened to this woman. However, those who saw what happened did not let their hearts be touched. The leader of the synagogue even criticized the healing. If one’s heart is full of oneself and of one’s own convictions, no miracle will ever scratch away its callousness. Jesus answered the synagogue leader’s accusations with a description of the kind of mercy that he came to bring to the earth. If the Pharisees, who had let their hearts be hardened were scandalized, the people around them actually rejoiced, “the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” Blessed are the disciples who let themselves be drawn into the mystery of the Lord’s mercy, they will rejoice just as the crowds did then.
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
