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
Luke 17,26-37
'As it was in Noah's day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot's day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of man to be revealed. 'When that Day comes, no one on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night, when two are in one bed, one will be taken, the other left; when two women are grinding corn together, one will be taken, the other left.' The disciples spoke up and asked, 'Where, Lord?' He said, 'Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
To the Pharisees who had asked Jesus about the kingdom of heaven, he continues to speak of an unexpected event that takes one by surprise. Therefore, he urges all to be prepared without losing time. With two examples from the Old Testament, the punishment of the flood and the destruction of Sodom, Jesus warns against resigning to evil, to closing oneself in self-seeking, to a trite and empty life, filled only with oneself or with racing after personal satisfactions. Whoever is folded upon him or herself, whether from laziness or stubbornness, will never succeed in giving space to another and will not welcome the "day" of the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus puts the disciples on guard because "on that day" (v. 31) and "on that night" (v. 34), one needs to be watchful. And vigilance implies freedom from attachment to things and one's traditions. Detachment from the world, from things, possessions - no matter how small or large - in brief, from "stuff," is a definitive condition for welcoming in one's heart the coming kingdom of God. And detachment must happen even from what we account as our supreme good: life that in truth we sometimes waste or throw away. Jesus clarifies well the way of salvation or, if you will, the meaning of our existence: "Those why try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it" (v. 33). What does it mean? The evangelist Luke previously reported these words with the addition "for my sake" (9:24). Jesus asks his disciples to spend their lives, their entire lives, in serving the Gospel, in following Jesus and partaking in his way of love, and in this way, save life and even make it grow. If we remain with the Lord, we will gather with him the fruits of the kingdom. Instead, those who remain only with themselves, spend their lives only on themselves, lose and gather nothing. Indeed, if two are in the same bed or are working together, one will be taken to heaven and the other sent to hell. All depends on the heart and on where we have directed it. On that day, the disciples, like vultures who run after prey, will gather around the Lord to welcome salvation.
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
