European memory of the Shoah Read more
European memory of the Shoah
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
Hebrews 10,32-39
Remember the great challenge of the sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days; sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to humiliations and violence, and sometimes as associates of others who were treated in the same way. For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you accepted with joy being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting. Do not lose your fearlessness now, then, since the reward is so great. You will need perseverance if you are to do God's will and gain what he has promised. Only a little while now, a very little while, for come he certainly will before too long. My upright person will live through faith but if he draws back, my soul will take no pleasure in him. We are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faith until our souls are saved.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the beginning of the third part of the Letter to the Hebrews. The author wants to encourage Christians to be consistent and persevere in Christian life. It was a particularly trying time for the Christian communities of that era, as they were beset by many hostilities. Evidently, some of them had given up, or had become slow to give witness because, perhaps, they were living their Christian faith in a more individualistic, and therefore less meaningful and less prophetic way. The author reminds these Christians of the fervour they had at the time of their conversion, when they courageously faced every sacrifice to witness to the Gospel: not only did they not retreat before difficulties and dangers, but they faced them together "cheerfully." The author reminds these Christians of when they were "exposed to abuse and persecution" and lived in deep solidarity with each other: "you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions." The reason for this courage was their conviction that they "possessed something better and more lasting." The author urges us to rediscover the virtue of constancy, that is, to persevere in following the Gospel and to not abandon "parrhesia", the trust in God that represents the true strength of a believer. This trust allows us to stand firm even in a world that is hostile to the Gospel. Laziness and fatigue risk locking us in the present and diminishing our sense of expectation of the coming of the Lord. Without a sense of expectation, our hope vanishes, and we stop fighting for a better world. Without a sense of expectation, we feel less need to pray and work, while we more easily give in to individualism and the mentality of our world. Today January 27, the day of the European memory of the Shoah , we cannot but remember the atrocious violence to which six million Jews were submitted in the Nazi extermination camps. May this day be an undeletable and warning memory against the resurging antisemitism and every form of racism that lead to scorn till elimination of the other.
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
