Memorial of all those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. In a particular way, we remember those deceased whom no one remembers and those who are dear to our heart. Read more
Homily
The apostle Paul invites us to look at the future that is reserved for the children of God: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption
and if children, then heirs." He then adds, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us." Today’s memorial gives us a glimpse of "the glory about to be revealed to us." For us who are here, this glory is to come; for those who passed away and believed in the Lord this glory is already revealed. They live on the mountain where the Lord has prepared a banquet for all people. And on that mountain, the veil, "which covers the face,"that is the indifference which makes us turn inside toward ourselvesis torn: their eyes contemplate the face of God. Yes, none of them sheds any tears of sadness. And if in heaven there are tears, they are tears of a sweet and tender emotion without end. Today, with eyes of the heart, we see where our dear ones are and where we will go. Certainly, we are separated from them. And yet there is also a strong union which even if it is not visible to our eyes, is very real. In fact, it is even stronger because it is not founded on exterior appearances, which often can trick us; we have all sadly experienced it: how many times even our dearest friends have left us alone with our problems. The communion with our departed ones is founded on the mystery of God’s love which gathers all and sustains all. If you will, the union with our departed ones is based on the Liturgy of Sunday. It is there, in fact, that we build an indestructible bond among us. The bond is the Lord’s love. This love is the substance of life. Everything passes, even faith and hope. Only love remains.
This is what the Lord Jesus is telling us in this Gospel passage we heard today. Yes, the only thing that counts in life is love; the only thing that remains of all that we have done and said, thought and planned, is love. And love is always great, even if it shows itself in small gestures like a glass of water, a piece of bread, a visit, a word of comfort, a hand which holds another. Love is great; it is strong; it is irresistible because it is always a spark of God which inflames and saves the earth. Blessed are we if we follow the words of the Gospel we have heard. We will hear at the end of our days: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" and our joy will be complete.
These words are also for us today. They bind us to those who are already in heaven. In fact, I would say that heave begins every time that love happens, every time that a poor person is helped. Yes, heaven, just like hell, begins already on earth. It is we who begin to build hell or paradise. The bricks we build Paradise withthe only that resist the destruction of deathare the gestures of love and mercy: it is that glass of water, that piece of bread, that visit to whoever is sick or in prison, that good word shared with someone who is sad, that hand held, that smile which stays close to someone. To our eyes these gestures seem small and insignificant; to God’s eyes they are eternal. Yes, love is always stronger than death. Let us love one another and Paradise will begin already.
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
