Monday of the Angel Többet
Monday of the Angel
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 28,8-15
Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. And suddenly, coming to meet them, was Jesus. 'Greetings,' he said. And the women came up to him and, clasping his feet, they did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, 'Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; there they will see me.' Now while they were on their way, some of the guards went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, 'This is what you must say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep." And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.' So they took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel has us staying in the day of the Resurrection. The women have just received the proclamation: Jesus is risen! The angel invites them to go directly to the disciples. And they, "left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples" (v. 8). But Jesus meets them and repeats almost the same words of the angel: "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." The Risen Jesus wants the disciples to go to Galilee, the same marginal region where he began his ministry. Easter represents a new beginning. There are those who would like to block Easter and its strength to change, so that everything remains the same. Matteo recounts how the religious leaders, scared by what the guards said, corrupt those guards with money and convince them to lie: the body of Jesus was stolen by his disciples while they slept. The world wants sealed tombs and makes use of lies and corruption so the news of his resurrection will not spread. From that first Easter, whoever will announce this news will be dragged before kings and judges to be condemned. And unfortunately today there are still so many Christians who suffer because of Easter. Think of the attacks that sometimes strike Christians gathered for Sunday liturgy. It is the culture of death which continues to strike Christians while they celebrate the central mystery of their faith, the Easter of resurrection, the victory of good over evil. From this culture of death, the scorn for each life is strengthened. The culture of death drugs the living, brutalizes them, empties them, so that they become slaves; it justifies the homicidal trade: food is hidden from the hungry, drugs are offered to those who are resigned, weapons are sold to the angry. And there is death, so much death in so many lands and in so many ways, people die believing that this happens for various reasons, but the plan is the same: the culture of death wants men and women to be stupid and selfish slaves beginning from their youth. They want to make his disciples silent. But let us not be afraid! The Gospel of Easter shows us that it takes just two poor women, obedient in all to the Gospel, to conquer the leaders' schemes and allow the dynamism of the Risen Jesus' love to be unleashed throughout history.
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!
