Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 23,1-12
Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said, 'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted respectfully in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi. 'You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one Master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus is in the temple. In his last address to the crowds, Jesus speaks out violently against the “scribes and Pharisees.” They are not the true shepherds of the people of the Lord. But rather than directly attacking their doctrine ? which he says is correct and should be maintained ? Jesus lashes out against their behaviour, which is remote from the true tradition and displays a cold and empty religiosity, made up entirely of exterior practices. They widen their phylacteries ? small boxes containing rolls of parchment containing biblical passages, which are tied to the left arm and the forehead ? but they do not act on what they contain. The origin of the phylactery is evocative: the Word of God was to be remembered (forehead) and put into practice (arm). But it was just an exterior practice to the Pharisees. Jesus also says that they “lengthen their fringes”, that is, the braids of fabric fitted with a purple and blue string attached to the four corners of the outer garment. Jesus himself wore them. But ostentatious display destroys the inner meaning of these signs. A similar analysis could be made of their vice of seeking the places of honour at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. Finally, Jesus takes issue with the “academic? and official titles that scribes and priests demanded from the people and their disciples. Among those, he emphasizes the most well-known, “rabbi”, or, “my teacher.” Even in this case Jesus does not reject the mission of teaching; rather he emphasizes the uniqueness of God?s Word. All believers are subject to it and should welcome it with faith, communicate it, and live it, always and everywhere. This is the origin of God?s fatherhood over our lives. The Gospel, and not our words or plans, should have authority over our lives. The temptation to accommodate the Gospel to our traditions and those of the world is ever present. Jesus condemned this temptation, and he asks us to do the same. We will discover that true joy and true greatness lie in being servants to the Word of God, that is, listening to it and communicating it to those we meet.
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
