Memory of the Mother of 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

Ephesians 2,12-22

do not forget, I say, that you were at that time separate from Christ and excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants of the Promise, limited to this world, without hope and without God. But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far off have been brought close, by the blood of Christ. For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one entity and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, by destroying in his own person the hostility, that is, the Law of commandments with its decrees. His purpose in this was, by restoring peace, to create a single New Man out of the two of them, and through the cross, to reconcile them both to God in one Body; in his own person he killed the hostility. He came to bring the good news of peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Through him, then, we both in the one Spirit have free access to the Father. So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors; you are fellow-citizens with the holy people of God and part of God's household. You are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. Every structure knit together in him grows into a holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built up into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The apostle is trying to explain the extraordinary work of Jesus, which breaks down the walls that divide people from each other, and the unity that it creates. It is important for the gentiles to remember their former condition, when they were far from God and outside his revelation. Even though the words of the apostle refer to a specific situation of that time, we can still apply them to ourselves, when we were (and continue to be) far from God, outside of communion with him. These words are still true for the Church today, when divisions prevail over unity and over the mission to communicate the Gospel: how many divisions there still are among Christians! And we can widen our gaze to the entire human family: how many conflicts there are between the nations of the earth! As believers we cannot resign ourselves to divisions, because if we do, we risk becoming complicit in them. We are called to work to restore the fraternity between everyone that God desires. Jesus is peace. This is why he works for full communion between all human beings. Peace is not just a feeling of personal wellbeing or even just the simple absence of war. Peace is the fullness of communion, a true and effective fraternity. In order to make peace possible, Jesus entered into the depths of conflict, to the point of suffering death. With the cross, he knocked down the wall of selfishness that divided humanity and united everyone in love, creating the "new humanity," the person whose heart embraces the whole of humanity. Every division is overcome in the heart of a believer: every barrier, every border. There are no enemies to combat for the disciples of Jesus, only brothers and sisters to love. It is from this "crucified" love that the Church is born as a communion of brothers and sisters. From the cross a new fraternity is born on earth: the community of believers. It is given the task of reconciliation everywhere there is division and separation.