Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 5,43-48
'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus continues to speak on God's "justice", which is different from human justice. He recalls the old" eye for an eye" law which tried to rule revenge as not unlimited. Indeed, that mosaic disposition had balanced a society in which someone could be killed for whatever reason. But Jesus wants to overturn everything, and he affirms that not only should we give up revenge, but we should also love our enemies and pray for them. Jesus' commandment seems to be alien to the common feeling of our world where even loving our friends seems difficult. But this is the perspective Jesus proposes to Christians; for others will recognize us not only from how we love one another, certainly not from a selfish and self-protecting life that ignores others and sometimes is against them, but also on how we will love our enemies. Often Christians behave exactly as pagans do, as those who do not follow the Gospelthey love those who reward them, greet those who greet them, care for those who give back to them. In this way, Christian life impoverishes and Christians are no more salt of the earth and light of the world. Jesus' commandment is totally opposed to what we usually do. It is indeed introduced by "But I say to you." It is founded in the very love of God the Father, who "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." On the contrary, we are used to dividing the world into good and bad people, righteous and unrighteous, favouring the ones and despising the others. God's love is universal and does not make preference in people. The Father in heaven wants us all to be his children. No one excluded. We shall be this Father's children if we obey the commandment Jesus gave us, only life in love makes us God's children. These Gospel words, though difficult, are full of wisdom. Jesus knows it well. And, with clarity, he asks his disciples to love also enemies. If sometimes overcoming enmity is difficult, especially when it lasts for a long time, we should at least pray for our enemies, opponents and even persecutors. Prayer will make the miracle of converting the hearts to love and therefore to reconciliation.
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
