Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 15, 1-10
The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him,
and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'
So he told them this parable:
'Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it?
And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders
and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost."
In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine upright people who have no need of repentance.
'Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it?
And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, I have found the drachma I lost."
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
A large crowd was following Jesus. For the most part, they were made up of the sick, the crushed and abandoned, of “tax collectors and sinners,” as the evangelist Luke noted with some complacency. All flocked in search of protection, healing, comfort. Obviously, this did not go undetected by the religious leaders of Israel; it created many suspicions and especially much perplexity, if not a real scandal. This became even more evident whenever Jesus sat at table with sinners and tax collectors. The meal together signified communion, intimacy, close relationships, and openly contradicted what the Pharisees preached and practiced - that is, a religiosity marked by an exterior ritual that must have even kept believers physically far from those considered impure and sinful. The distance between the religious thought of the Pharisees and that of Jesus was abyssal. In fact, for Jesus, familiarity with tax collectors and sinners was not a casual choice; on the contrary, it was the fruit of a precise choice. It was really a part of his mission and, if one may say so, similar to the behaviour of his heavenly Father. In as much as Jesus, responding to the accusations levelled at him by the Pharisees, speaks not of himself but of God, he describes God’s behaviour. As many as 32 verses of Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel, beginning with this section, speak of the merciful attitude of God. These first ten verses narrate two parables about mercy: the lost sheep and the lost coin. In the first, Jesus presents the Father as a shepherd who lost one of his ninety-nine sheep. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the fold and starts to search for the lost one. It could be said that there is a law of mercy that gives the sinner a right: the right to be helped before those who are just. This is the revolution of the Gospel. In a world where merit is the ideal of social organization and there’s no doubt that this must be considered - the Gospel presents the paradox of the mystery of mercy and pardon. In the second parable, the Father is imagined as a woman who has lost a coin and starts looking for it until she finds it, thus asserting once again God’s privileged love for little ones. And both, the shepherd and the woman, after having found the lost sheep and the coin, call their neighbours to celebrate. God wants not the death of sinners, but their conversion - that is, that they change their lives and turn to Him. This demands from disciples a merciful heart and a capacity to love as God does. Jesus concludes, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” This is the feast God enjoys most, and for this reason, he starts searching - even begging - for love. He does this even with us: let us allow Him to find us.
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
