Holy Monday
In the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere the Community of Sant'Egidio prays for peace.
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Holy Monday
In the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere the Community of Sant’Egidio prays for peace.
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
John 12,1-11
Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot -- one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him-said, 'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?' He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contents. So Jesus said, 'Leave her alone; let her keep it for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.' Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Gospel of John begins the narration of the Passion of Jesus with a dinner in Bethany at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus - a family that was very dear to Jesus. In these days of harsh struggle with the Pharisees and priests, the home of his friends had become a place of rest and repose. It was six days before the Passover, as it is for us now, and once again Jesus was having dinner with his friends. Lazarus, whom Jesus had recently brought back to life, was there too. The Gospel says that at one point Mary gets up, comes close to Jesus, and kneels at his feet, covering them with ointment and then drying them with her hair. The house is filled with the smell of the perfume. She might have done this out of gratitude for the gift of her brother’s life. Her gesture is full of love. Mary does not calculate how much might be wasted. She is only thinking about the love of this prophet who gave back her brother and who had loved their home so tenderly. But Judas thinks differently. For him, this gesture so full of love is indeed an unnecessary waste: "Why - he said aloud - was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" In reality - the evangelist notes - he said this because he was interested in the money or his own advantage, not the poor. His greed to possess this for himself had blinded him. Jesus responds immediately to Judas and says, "Leave her alone." Jesus wants Mary to continue her loving gesture: the ointment she uses foreshadows the oil that will be poured on his body before his burial. Jesus adds, "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me." Indeed Jesus was about to begin his way of the cross, which would lead to his death. Mary was the only one who understood that Jesus was going to be put to death and therefore needed special affection and closeness, just like every dying person. This woman who lets herself be overwhelmed by Jesus’ love teaches us how to be close to Jesus over the next few days and how to be close to the weak and the sick every day, especially the elderly, whose bodies weaken and need to be taken care of tenderly, sometimes even with ointment. Mary’s tender and loving act, made up of simple and concrete gestures, is a symbol of the path of salvation: when we are close to the poor, the weak, and the elderly, we are close to Jesus himself. This is what Jesus means when he says, the poor you always have with you. They can tell us how much they need the ointment of friendship and affection. Blessed are we - and blessed are they - if we have the tenderness and the audacity of Mary!
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
