Remembrance of Saint Leo the Great (461), bishop of Rome, who led the Church through difficult times. Read more
Remembrance of Saint Leo the Great (461), bishop of Rome, who led the Church through difficult times.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 21,27-36
The seven days were nearly over when some Jews from Asia caught sight of him in the Temple and stirred up the crowd and seized him, shouting, 'Men of Israel, help! This is the man who preaches to everyone everywhere against our people, against the Law and against this place. He has even profaned this Holy Place by bringing Greeks into the Temple.' They had, in fact, previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and thought that Paul had brought him into the Temple. This roused the whole city; people came running from all sides; they seized Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, and the gates were closed behind them. While they were setting about killing him, word reached the tribune of the cohort that there was tumult all over Jerusalem. He immediately called out soldiers and centurions and charged down on the crowd, who stopped beating Paul when they saw the tribune and the soldiers. When the tribune came up he took Paul into custody, had him bound with two chains and enquired who he was and what he had done. People in the crowd called out different things, and since the noise made it impossible for him to get any positive information, the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress. When Paul reached the steps, the crowd became so violent that he had to be carried by the soldiers; and indeed the whole mob was after them, shouting, 'Do away with him!'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
It was the time of the Jewish Pentecost and Jerusalem was full of Jews from the Diaspora. Paul went to the temple, with the four poor people to whom he would give the money required by the Law. But the Jews who have come from Asia Minor recognize him, seize him and drag him out of the “court of Israel.” The accusation against him is clearly not founded. But the entire city is in an uproar and runs to the temple to lynch the apostle. The prompt intervention of the Roman soldiers watching the Anthonine Tower saves Paul at the last minute. The screams of the crowd are similar to those during Jesus’ trial, “Away with him!” The proconsul saves him from them but puts him in prison. From that moment to the book’s ending Paul’ life will be that of a prisoner. He will leave Jerusalem in chains, and he will reach Rome, the capital of the Empire, in chains. His body was chained, but not his heart. Paul finds in his faith in Jesus a freedom more secure and stronger than chains, “For the love of Christ I have despised all that once was precious for me. Yes, I truly consider nothing of value when I compare it with the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” This is an invitation for us to free ourselves from the chains that bind our hearts more than our hands so that we may resolutely unite with Jesus and his love for all.
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
