EVERYDAY PRAYER

Liturgy of the Sunday
Word of god every day

Liturgy of the Sunday

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, February 8

Homily

The Gospel passage narrates Jesus’ first day in Capernaum. It is a typical day in Jesus’ life, yet it immediately seems so different from our own lives, whose days are often marked by monotony, sadness, pettiness and, at times, lack of meaning. At other times the hardships and tragedy of life take over and we find that what is written in the book of Job, that we heard in the first reading, is true for us too, “Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a labourer?” Furthermore, if we look at those most affected by violence, injustice and wars (both the well-known and the many others which may be smaller but which no one speaks about), Job’s lamentation becomes even more tragic, “So I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, 'When shall I rise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn … Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.” This passage of Scripture underlines the fact that the lives of men and women are full of hardships. The “day of Capernaum,” which was proclaimed in today’s Gospel, enters into our days to infuse strength and energy, like the yeast that ferments the entire dough.
The evangelist narrates that after having cast out an impure spirit from a poor man in a synagogue, Jesus goes to the house of Simon and Andrew, perhaps in search of some quiet. However, as soon as he enters the house, he is told that Simon’s mother-in-law has a fever. Without delay, Jesus heals her. He says not one word, not even a prayer, but takes her hand and helps her up. It is a simple story that, nonetheless, contains all of Jesus’ triumphant power against evil. (It is not a coincidence that, in describing the woman’s healing, the evangelist employs the same verb used for Jesus’ resurrection). The woman’s response – “she began to serve them” – is not mere courtesy but “diaconia,” i.e. service, (this is the verb used to indicate what the woman began doing) that is, serving the Lord and the brothers and sisters.
In a sense, this healing contains in itself all others: both the ones that Jesus will do in his earthly life, and those of the disciples of that time and of every time. In fact, the evangelist immediately broadens the scope of the healing from that of one person to that of many people, so as to say that Jesus came to fight every type of evil: physical, mental and psychological. Compassion is expressed in the very first page of the Gospel, and so it should also be in the life of the Church: compassion for the weak, the sick, the poor, the tired and worn-out crowds, of which we will often hear in the Gospels of the next few Sundays. This compassion sums up Jesus’ entire mission. It was still the same day, the evangelist notes, and “that evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons, and the whole city gathered around the door.” The sun had set and the world gave no sign of light or hope, but the city was gathered in front of that door, the door of the house where Jesus stayed; there was the only light that had not set. It comes naturally to think of the millions of people affected by war and hunger, who are seeking a door on which to knock for help. How can we not also think of the doors of our church communities, which are often a last refuge for the poor and desperate? Do these doors know how to open in order to provide healing and consolation? The evangelist tells us that Jesus healed many people.
When everyone had left after having been healed and heartened, Jesus went to a secluded place to pray. That moment was, in fact, the climax and source of all his days and of all that he did. It was his first and fundamental work. Yes, prayer is Jesus’ first work. And this should be true also for the disciples. We can therefore imagine Jesus’ nightly prayer after having been so close to the anguish and hope of many people throughout the day. His intimacy with the Father was not a way of escaping the world and life to finally enjoy some tranquillity, which indeed he would have deserved. Most likely these meetings were passionate conversations (maybe even dramatic ones, it suffices to think of the night in Gethsemane!) between the Son and the Father regarding the mission that Jesus had received from his Father, namely, on the state of the world, on the salvation of those whom Jesus had met and of others whom he had still and wanted to meet. This might explain his reaction when, after joining him, the disciples tell Jesus that everyone is looking for him, “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also.” Jesus does not stop at just one home, one sole group or nation, or in only one civilization; nor does he exit only one door. He wants to visit all homes, because the Gospel is needed everywhere, starting from the farthest peripheries.

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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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR