Memorial of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Read more
Memorial of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 20, 11-18
But Mary was standing outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, as she wept, she stooped to look inside,
and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet.
They said, 'Woman, why are you weeping?' 'They have taken my Lord away,' she replied, 'and I don't know where they have put him.'
As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not realise that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?' Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.'
Jesus said, 'Mary!' She turned round then and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rabbuni!' -- which means Master.
Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'
So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord,' and that he had said these things to her.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The liturgy invites us to stop again near the sepulchre where Jesus’ body has been placed. And it shows us Mary Magdalene who is there, crying over the death of her Lord. The loss of the only one who had understood her and who had freed her from seven demons did not make her stay at home frozen in pain and tied up in resignation and defeat. On the contrary, it pushed her to go to the tomb so that she could be near him: she could not remain without the Teacher, even if he was dead. How distant we are from the love of this woman! Too little do we cry over the loss of the Lord. Mary is dejected, but not resigned. She asks everyone, the two angels and the “gardener”, where Jesus is. She is completely determined to find the Teacher. Nothing else interests her. She is truly an example of the true believer, of one who does not cease from seeking the Lord. She even asks the “gardener”: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Mary sees Jesus with her eyes, but she does not recognize him. Only when she hears his voice, when he calls her by name, do her eyes open. The same happens with us when, in need of true words, we do listen to the Gospel. Our eyes do not permit us to recognize Jesus, but our heart, longing for loving words, recognises his voice. That timbre, that tone, that name tenderly pronounced that had touched her heart so many times, make the barrier placed by death between her and Jesus fall away. Mary recognizes Jesus by hearing him calling her by name. Indeed the Gospel does not call in a generic way. It is a loving word that reaches the heart. To listen to him with the heart of that woman, even just once, means not to abandon him any longer. Indeed the Gospel does not speak in a generic way. It is a word of love that reaches our heart. We need to listen to it in an atmosphere of prayer and of search for meaning and of need for a vision. We need to listen to it with the heart of that woman. And if we do it, even only once, we will not abandon the Lord anymore. The voice of Christ (the Gospel) cannot be forgotten. Even if we hear it for just a moment, we will no longer renounce it. Indeed, familiarity with the words of the Gospel is familiarity with the Lord. It constitutes the way along which we will see and meet him. Mary throws herself at the Teacher’s feet and embraces him with the longing affection of one who has again found the decisive man of her life. But Jesus tells her, “Do not hold on to me But go to my brothers.” Gospel love is an energy that pushes us to go beyond. It is the energy that moved Jesus himself, since the moment in which, obeying to the Father, “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil 2:7). Mary obeyed Jesus and ran to the disciples. And she was even happier as she ran toward the disciples to announce to all: “I have seen the Lord!” She, the sinner, had become the first “apostle” of the Gospel of the resurrection.
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
