EVERYDAY PRAYER

Liturgy of the Sunday
Word of god every day

Liturgy of the Sunday

Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, November 6

Homily

After the feast of All Saints and of all those who have died (these are two aspects of the same memorial), this Sunday’s liturgy again stresses the mystery of life beyond death. There is no doubt that the question of the beyond is one of those issues which is weaved into the whole cycle of human life. The Sadducees, a religious movement of intellectuals, had resolved the issue by denying the reality of resurrection from the dead. Moreover, on this topic, the Old Testament had only, quite late, reached a degree of certainty (it clearly appears in the book of the Maccabees, as we heard in the first reading). The episode in the Gospel (Lk 20:27-38) relates the discussion in which the Sadducees try to demonstrate to Jesus that faith in the resurrection of the dead, a faith which the Pharisees also shared, is unacceptable, since it leads to ridiculous consequences. And they report the case of a woman who, on the basis of the Levirate law established by Moses, has had to marry seven brothers in succession, one dying after the other, without any of them having given her a son. Finally the woman also dies. Afterward the woman also died. The Sadducees ask Jesus, "In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?" (see vv. 32-33). Obviously Jesus’ possible answers may sound ridiculous.
Today, we do not ask this kind of question; we are a bit more polished. In the best of cases we recommend keeping quiet about that which we cannot see or know. The philosopher Wittgenstein, almost as if summing up all these perplexing things, suggests a wise principle, "That of which we cannot speak we should keep silent about;" in other words: about life after death, if it exists or not, how it will be or not —it is best that we speak as little as possible. No one has direct experience of it. I think that we Christians, even if we are not in agreement with this philosopher, are sceptical about facile visions which are claimed here and there. If we speak about life after death, we do so not drawing on our own experience, more or less imaginary, but only on the Word of God. This word, who "in the beginning was with God" (Jn 1:1), and who has come to pitch his tent among us, opens up to the eyes of our mind and heart the veil which separates us from eternity. It is clear that, to the extent that "the word" draws near to humankind, it is clothed in a way we can understand, so that we can at least have a little glimpse of the mystery which it hides.
The apostle Paul writes, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). If I had to find an example to try to express the relationship between our world and the eternal one, I would use that of the baby in her mother’s womb and of her life when she leaves her mother’s womb. While the baby is inside the womb, what can she understand of life outside it? Almost nothing. Analogously, what can we say about life after death? Nothing, if the word of God had not come to meet us. Well, in his reply to the Sadducees, Jesus comes to remove the veil a bit: "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection" (vv. 34-36).
The traits of the world of those who have risen from the dead are the opposite from those in the present world, because with the resurrection, life is continuous; it has neither beginning nor end; there is no further need of marriage for procreation, and death is no longer possible. It is a life full of loving communion with God and with one another, a life without tears, bitterness and sorrows. But the contrast between "children of this age" and "children of the resurrection" is not reserved for only after death; if we are children of the resurrection from right now, the opposition takes place already on this earth; this opposition is nothing else but the diversity between the world and the Gospel, between a life that follows the word of God and one that follows our petty traditions. In simple terms we could say that paradise starts already on this earth when we try to live according to the Gospel. The "Word of God" is the good yeast which leavens the dough of our life; it is the seed of immortality and incorruptibility planted in the little soil of our heart. It is up to us, already now, to receive this leaven and let it ferment, to accept the seed and let it grow. Thus does paradise begin from this moment. On the other hand, when the Gospel is missing, or worse, rejected, we build hell with our own hands for ourselves and for others. It is there that the Gospel takes hold and a sign of love dawns, even a small one, that blossoms the life which does not end. This is why, in the profession of faith, we say "we believe in everlasting life," that is, the life which does not end, and not "we believe in the afterlife." We can live paradise starting today.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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