Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 8,4-15
With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, he told this parable: 'A sower went out to sow his seed. Now as he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and was trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell in the middle of thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into good soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.' Saying this he cried, 'Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!' His disciples asked him what this parable might mean, and he said, 'To you is granted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God; for the rest it remains in parables, so that they may look but not perceive, listen but not understand. 'This, then, is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. Those on the edge of the path are people who have heard it, and then the devil comes and carries away the word from their hearts in case they should believe and be saved. Those on the rock are people who, when they first hear it, welcome the word with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of trial they give up. As for the part that fell into thorns, this is people who have heard, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life and never produce any crops. As for the part in the rich soil, this is people with a noble and generous heart who have heard the word and take it to themselves and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus gives particular value to this parable because in it he shows the attitude that the disciples must have in listening to the entire Gospel. We could say that the Gospel is not understood if there is not someone to explain it. The very parables need to be explained because we need the "spirit" of Jesus to go deeper and to bind those words to life. The first striking observation of this parable though, is not about the listener but about the sower. He appears extraordinarily generous in sowing seeds (which is the Word of God): the sower throws them everywhere, even on the street, between stones, hoping they can find some piece of earth to attach to and grow. For Jesus, the first sower, there is no soil that is not ideal to receive the Gospel. The soil is life, or better the heart of every man and every woman, whatever culture and condition they belong to. Even if there are hearts as hard as stone, or terrains that are resistant to every attempt at sowing, Jesus continues to sow in the hope that sooner or later some crack welcomes that good seed and gives fruit. The parable does not intend to classify men and women in the various terrains in such a way as to call some of them good soil and others bad. This can certainly happen, but it depends on everyone's choice. No one is bad or good by nature. It is the freedom that each man and woman has received as gift. It is the choice which we often make of being the good terrain or less good and other times, resistant to listening. If we look at our lives we realize that at times our hearts are similar to a rocky soil, other times it is full of thorns, other times still we let ourselves be overcome by worries and other times we are good soil. With this parable, the Lord invites us to open our hearts to welcome the World of God and to take care of it with perseverance. In fact, he continues, every morning to sow the Gospel in our hearts, as it happens for example, to those who listen to the Scripture every day. He will also ask each of us to be sowers of the good seed of the Gospel, so that the Word is sown widely even to the extreme corners of the earth, bringing everywhere the fruits of peace and love.
Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).
Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.
Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.
De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).
Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.
