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
Hebrews 4, 1-5.11
Let us beware, then: since the promise never lapses, none of you must think that he has come too late for the promise of entering his place of rest.
We received the gospel exactly as they did; but hearing the message did them no good because they did not share the faith of those who did listen.
We, however, who have faith, are entering a place of rest, as in the text: And then in my anger I swore that they would never enter my place of rest. Now God's work was all finished at the beginning of the world;
as one text says, referring to the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day after all the work he had been doing.
And, again, the passage above says: They will never reach my place of rest.
Let us, then, press forward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal to believe and be lost.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The temptation that Christians face, and about which the author of the Letter issues a warning, is the same temptation faced by the Israelites who had reached the border of Canaan, that is, the temptation to stay behind and not enter the promised land, the temptation to withdraw from God's love and refuse to be caught up in God's embrace. And yet this is precisely the good news that the Lord came to give humanity. And in the new time begun by Jesus, all of this is even clearer: he came to earth to love us; he not only takes nothing away from us, but gives us everything. Jesus too, we could say, does not “stay behind;” indeed he descended to the point of giving his very life for us. We are the ones who are tempted to not “enter his rest.” How often we are afraid to let ourselves be embraced or loved by the Lord. We prefer the sadness of remaining alone. The author calls this attitude that leads us to follow ourselves rather than the rest proposed by God “disobedience.” It is wise to recognize our fear of letting ourselves be restored by the Word and mercy of God. But Jesus comes towards us and says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). The “rest”, the relief that is proposed to us, is the embrace of God's love that we experience in the maternal embrace of the Church and the community. The Word that is addressed to us every day, by which the Lord embraces us, soothes the wounds of our heart, gives us peace, and makes us grow in charity and joy. The Lord's love is an energy that transforms us and builds a communion among brothers and sisters, similar to that of a solid and welcoming house. The Church, the community of brothers and sisters, is already living in the day of “rest,” the “seventh day,” in which God reigns over everything with love. The author is right to urge believers to strive to enter this rest, “Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.” In fact, entering this “rest” means taking part in the life of the community. For the author this “rest” is something like the house of God into which Christians are invited to enter, the gift that Christians receive by taking part in the Christian community where they are loved and watched over. This community is where the Word is explained and where, in fraternity, everyone is guided towards love for their brothers and sisters, towards charity for the poor, and towards the edification of peace among all. It is in this context that the author weaves his words of praise for the Word of God, the true and solid foundation, the rock on which the house is built. It is a certain foundation that is laid once and for all, but it is also a living stone, because it “refunds,” reinforces, the community every day. The Word of God, in fact, nourishes us with food that is ever new, appropriate for every spiritual age, and sustains believers so that they might be able to uproot evil and amass good.
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
