Feast of Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist. Czytaj więcej
Feast of Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 9,9-13
As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him. Now while he was at table in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?' When he heard this he replied, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today the Church remembers Matthew, apostle and evangelist. In the Jewish language his name was Levi, and his profession, tax collector, was considered dishonourable by his countrymen because he collected taxes for the dominant foreign power. Generally they were deceiving and demanding in their exacting taxes. But something happens to this tax collector that is completely unexpected and staggering for the people. Jesus was walking by in Capernaum, a border city where taxes were collected, and saw Matthew, and, instead of passing by spitefully like everyone else, he stopped nearby his desk where he was exacting taxes and called him: "Follow me," One word is enough and Matthew "got up and followed him," as he tells in the Gospel modestly. For Jesus no one is foreign to the call of the Gospel, whatever his or her situation, even if it is ill-reputed like Matthew's. It is not the situation that counts, but whether one welcomes the Gospel into one's heart. This is exactly what the tax collector Matthew did. And at that moment his life changed. Up until then he had thought about accumulating for himself, but once he began listening to that Teacher, all he did was follow him. It was not a sacrifice for him, but a celebration. Matthew understood that Jesus was not calling him to steal his life or to make it sad. On the contrary Jesus wanted to share with him his great dream on the world. Matthew was so happy at being welcomed to follow that teacher that he planned a dinner with Jesus and invited his friends, tax collectors and sinners. It was a strange banquet that nonetheless prefigured the alliance between Christians and the poor for whom Jesus lived and preached. From that moment on, Matthew did not sit collecting taxes anymore; he became a disciple and gathered sinners to celebrate around Jesus. The world does not understand what is happening, but this is the innovation of the Gospel that is disconcerting to the majority of people: everyone's heart, with no exceptions, can be touched and everyone can change his or her life, starting from sinners. Jesus clarifies this to those who did and do not want to understand: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." In fact, it is written: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." With the Gospel that bears his name, Matthew continues to remind us of the centrality of the Word of God. One word is all it takes for our lives to change. Let us listen to it, as Matthew did, and let us begin to follow Jesus too.
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.
