Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 20,17-28
Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and on the road he took the Twelve aside by themselves and said to them, 'Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will be raised up again.' Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, 'What is it you want?' She said to him, 'Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.' Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?' They replied, 'We can.' He said to them, 'Very well; you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.' When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that among the gentiles the rulers lord it over them, and great men make their authority felt. Among you this is not to happen. No; anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus is getting close to Jerusalem, and for the third timelonger than previous timeshe confides to his disciples what awaits him: the drama of death. But then comes the resurrection. As often with us, the disciples do not listen, or they think as usual that he is exaggerating. Before this drama, the evangelist narrates that the disciples have their heads in another place. Jesus is very worried about what will happen in Jerusalem. But they are worried about their positions and what positions to ask for. Jesus is heading toward the cross and they think about "thrones of glory". It is true that the scene was started by the mother of Zebedee's sons. We all identify with her: we have worries for ourselves, for our futures and for our plans. And, deep down we are all convinced that this is ok. But the problem is the concentration on ourselves to the point of becoming deaf and blind to the drama of those who truly suffer. In the anguished Jesus who asks for comfort we see all those who are condemned by poverty and injustice still today. The risk is that we too, like that mother and those disciples, are only worried for ourselves. Jesus tells them: "You do not know what you ask for". When we ask just for ourselves, we are blind; we do not know what to ask for. And Jesus returns with great patience to teach those disciples so that they understand the way to follow, and therefore what to ask for. And, like a good teacher, Jesus seems to accept their ambition, but he moves it in the opposite direction, he turns the question on its head: "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave." It is the opposite way of the world, contrary to what we too instinctively try to undertake. With his very life, Jesus shows us a very different style of life from the selfish feelings that we all feel. "Just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many". He asks this of himself and of anyone who wants to follow him. It is the way toward an Easter of resurrection, which passes through the cross.
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
