Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Pope Saint Callixtus (+222). He was a friend to the poor and founded the house of prayer on which later would be built the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Memorial of Pope Saint Callixtus (+222). He was a friend to the poor and founded the house of prayer on which later would be built the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
First Reading
Wisdom 7,7-11
And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing. I reckoned no precious stone to be her equal, for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her, silver ranks as mud. I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since her radiance never sleeps. In her company all good things came to me, and at her hands incalculable wealth.
Psalmody
Psalm 89
Antiphon
May the favour of the Lord rest upon us.
O Lord, you have been our refuge
from one generation to the next.
Before the mountains were born
or the earth or the world brought forth,
you are God, without beginning or end.
You turn men back into dust
and say: 'Go back, sons of men'
To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and gone,
no more than a watch in the night.
You sweep men away like a dream
like grass which springs up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers;
by evening it withers and fades.
So we are destroyed in your anger
struck with terror in your fury.
Our guilt lies open before you;
our secrets in the light of your face.
All our days pass away in your anger.
Our life is over like a sigh.
Our span is seventy years
or eighty for those who are strong.
And most of these are emptiness and pain.
They pass swiftly and we are gone.
Who understands the power of your anger
and fears the strength of your fury?
Make us know the shortness of our life
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?
Show pity to your servants.
In the morning, fill us with your love;
we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Give us joy to balance our affliction
for the years when we knew misfortune.
Show forth your work to your servants;
let your glory shine on their children.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:
give success to the work of our hands.
Second Reading
Hebrews 4,12-13
The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more incisively than any two-edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgement on secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.
Reading of the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 10,17-30
He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.' And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.' Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.' They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved?' Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.' Peter took this up. 'Look,' he said to him, 'we have left everything and followed you.' Jesus said, 'In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land -- and persecutions too -- now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Homily
The Gospel shows Jesus walking again towards Jerusalem. It invites us to get involved with Jesus on the path of spiritual growth. The one whom Mark's Gospel writes about is "running" towards Jesus. He is hurrying to meet him. He is quite a model compared to our usual laziness when we follow Jesus. Mark describes him as an adult (Matthew as a young man). In fact, we can, or rather we must, run towards the Lord at any age. As soon as he reaches Jesus, the man falls on his knees and asks him a fundamental question, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He calls him "good" not because he wants to flatter him but because he does think Jesus to be so. However, Jesus soon corrects him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." For us so used to having a high regard for ourselves, Jesus' words are a lesson. "No one is good but God alone." Even less are we ourselves good. Being aware of this is not humility, but truth. Understanding our own weakness and sins means taking a first step along the race towards the Lord. The man runs to Jesus and opens a dialogue. Jesus asks him if he knows the commandments. He replies he has respected them since he was young. He is not a "lukewarm" believer. How many among us could reply the same to Jesus?
The Evangelist remarks "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." Jesus' word always sees, fixes his gaze with love on the lives of men and women. Today, Jesus addresses us with the same deep love and tells us, "Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." The Gospel always requires commitment, a decision, and a reply. When the rich man heard these words, he lowered his head, his face darkened, and he went away with a sad heart. The Evangelist ends the passage explaining: "For he had many possessions." Jesus also became sad, very sad. He had lost a friend, a disciple. Even those to whom he could have preached the joy of the Gospel had lost him.
"How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" Jesus says and concludes saying, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." We should be frightened when we hear these words. As children of a rich world, we are inclined to hoard, to own goods, rather than giving, offering, and sharing. Jesus asks us to put God before everything, even before our possessions, and consider the poor as our brothers and sisters who are in debt of love and help. It may seem that the Lord is asking us to give something up, and he is, partly. But what the Lord is asking is, in fact, a great wisdom of life. Jesus' answer to the question Peter asks in the name of the disciples explains the consequences of this evangelical wisdom. Those who leave everything to follow Jesus receive one hundred times as much during their life and will receive eternal life after their death. Sometimes we think the evangelical life is only deprivation. The rich man thought like this. Actually, following Jesus is extremely "convenient," not just for the future salvation of our souls, but also to enjoy a hundred times as much life on this earth. Those who place God first in their lives become members of his family and there they find brothers and sisters to love, fathers and mothers to revere, houses and fields to till.
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
