Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Mark 12,28-34
One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, 'Which is the first of all the commandments?' Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.' The scribe said to him, 'Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.' Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' And after that no one dared to question him any more.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The passage from Mark's Gospel takes place in the context of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem. Amidst the increasingly threatening hostility of the leaders of the people, comes a sincere request made by a scribe who turns to Jesus and asks: "Which commandment is the first of all?" He was a wise scribe, and he was aware that he did not have all truth in his possession and needed to learn from a wiser teacher. Indeed, we all need to ask the Spirit that was given to us the meaning of the Scriptures for our lives and the world. No one is teacher to oneself. Unfortunately, we easily forget to open and listen to the Scriptures in a spirit of prayer, feeling sure of ourselves and thinking that we already know what to do and how to live. This is the sin of pride and self-sufficiency that leads us to think we can even do without God and His word. This wise scribe today teaches us how we should stand before Jesus and together with him ask Jesus: "Master, what is the heart of the Gospel?" Jesus responds in an articulate way as if to make us understand that without him, without his Holy Spirit, is difficult to understand the Scriptures. Jesus says the "first commandment" is twofold: love God and love your neighbour. These two loves cannot be separated; in fact, they form one love, one thing. It is not possible to divide God from our neighbour. Also the apostle John reminds us: "Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). Jesus himself shows it to us: he loved the Father more than anything else, more than his own life, and equally loved men and women more than anything else, more than his own life. Certainly, to understand the uniqueness of the love of God and of our neighbour, there is a prior invitation that must be accepted: "The first [commandment] is: Hear, Israel." It is the invitation that is continuously repeated to us in this time of Lent: the need to listen to God who speaks to us. Whoever does not listen will only hear the noise of oneself and will not be able to live the commandment of love fully.
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.
