Memorial of the Presentation of the Mother of the Lord at the Temple. This feast, born in Jerusalem and celebrated in both the East and the West, remembers both the ancient temple and how Mary offered her life to the Lord. Czytaj więcej
Memorial of the Presentation of the Mother of the Lord at the Temple. This feast, born in Jerusalem and celebrated in both the East and the West, remembers both the ancient temple and how Mary offered her life to the Lord.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 12,46-50
He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly his mother and his brothers were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, 'Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?' And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The feast of the Presentation of Mary at the temple is linked to the dedication of the church of Saint Mary built near the temple in Jerusalem in the year 453. Mary the Theotókos (Mother of God), is the true temple in which the only sacrifice pleasing to God is offered. This memory is connected to the tradition of the apocryphal proto-Gospel of James, which narrates the consecration of Mary to God as an adolescent. It is a pious tradition that makes us think of the urgency of bringing to God the many adolescents of today who are often not only deprived of the beautiful things of existence, but sometimes even their lives. We need to make every effort to keep watch over the little ones, to protect them from a society that raises them at the school of selfishness and vanity, and to raise them instead at the school of the Gospel. The evangelist Matthew reports a Gospel scene that can remind us of the urgency of placing ourselves at the school of the Gospel. It is a passage that might seem harsh towards the Mother of Jesus, but in truth it is that path that Mary has always followed. We read that Jesus is in a house, and many people are gathered around him to listen to him. His relatives, with his mother, call for him. His relatives were "standing outside," the evangelist writes, referring to a distance which is more than just spatial. Only those who "stand inside" and listen to his word, Jesus says, are his true family. The Christian community is always born from listening to the Word of God, and it lives by listening to it. And we all need to be careful not to fall into the temptation of being "relatives" of Jesus, that is, of thinking that we no longer need to gather around him and listen to him, as having access to him is "natural" and can be taken for granted. In short, it is not enough to belong to the group of Christians to be saved. We need to go "inside" the community every day to listen to the Gospel as the Church communicates it. We cannot be disciples once and for all! We need to listen to the Gospel every day and welcome it in our heart. The example of Mary brought to the temple is a precious sign of all Christian communities to be schools of communion and love. And it is also essential for Christian families to work to communicate the faith to their children, starting when they are little, so that, like Jesus, they can grow in "wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour."
Modlitwa jest sercem życia Wspólnoty Sant’Egidio, jej pierwszym „dziełem”. Na zakończenie dnia każda Wspólnota, niezależnie czy mała czy duża, zbiera się wokół Pana, aby słuchać Jego Słowa i zanosić do Niego swe prośby. Uczniowie nie mogą uczynić więcej niż siąść u stóp Jezusa jak Maria z Betanii, aby wybrać „najlepszą cząstkę” (Łk 10, 42) i uczyć się jak mieć te same co On uczucia (por. Flp 2,1-5).
Wracając do Pana za każdym razem Wspólnota czyni własną prośbę anonimowego ucznia: "Panie, naucz nas się modlić!” (Łk 11, 1). I Jezus, nauczyciel modlitwy, nieprzerwanie odpowiada: „Kiedy się modlicie, mówcie: Ojcze nasz”.
Kiedy człowiek się modli, także w cichości własnego serca, nigdy nie jest odizolowany od innych czy opuszczony: zawsze jest członkiem rodziny Pana. W modlitwie wspólnotowej poza tajemnicą usynowienia jasno ukazuje się również tajemnica braterstwa.
Wspólnoty Sant’Egidio rozsiane po świecie zbierają się w różnych miejscach wybranych na modlitwę i przynoszą Panu nadzieje i cierpienia „znękanych i porzuconych tłumów”, o których mówi Ewangelia (por. Mt 9, 36-37). Należą do tych tłumów także mieszkańcy współczesnych miast, ubodzy zepchnięci na margines życia, wszyscy ci, którzy oczekują, że zostaną najęci choć na dzień (por. Mt 20).
Modlitwa Wspólnoty gromadzi wołania, dążenia, pragnienia pokoju, uzdrowienia, poczucia sensu i zbawienia, którymi żyją mężczyźni i kobiety tego świata. Modlitwa nigdy nie jest pusta. Nieustannie wznosi się do Pana, aby płacz zmienił się w radość, desperacja w pogodę ducha, przygnębienie w nadzieję, samotność w zjednoczenie. I aby Królestwo Boże jak najszybciej zamieszkało między ludźmi.
