Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 18, 1-8
Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
'There was a judge in a certain town,' he said, 'who had neither fear of God nor respect for anyone.
In the same town there was also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, "I want justice from you against my enemy!"
For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, "Even though I have neither fear of God nor respect for any human person,
I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me, or she will come and slap me in the face." '
And the Lord said, 'You notice what the unjust judge has to say?
Now, will not God see justice done to his elect if they keep calling to him day and night even though he still delays to help them?
I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus, from his personal experience, knows that the Father always listens to him: "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me," he says in front of the tomb of Lazarus (Jn 11:41-42). Jesus wants the disciples to be certain, as he is, that the Father always hears our prayers. Therefore he tells the disciples to "pray always, without ever growing tired." He not only says to pray "always," that is, in every circumstance, but "without ever growing tired." Prayer is always effective, Jesus seems to say. The disciples should therefore not doubt its efficacy. To support his words he tells them the parable of a poor widow who asks for justice from a judge. A symbol of the powerlessness of the weak in society at Jesus’ time, this widow with her insistence to the dishonest and hard-hearted judge will be listened to and granted justice. But above all its meaning applied to our prayer to the Father who is in heaven is extraordinary. "How much more, Jesus seems to say to his disciples, will your Father in heaven, who is not merely just but has a large and merciful heart, listen to you?" The Gospel wants to persuade us in every way of the strength and power of prayer: when it is insistent, we can say it obliges God to intervene. This is why perseverance in prayer is the first work the disciple is called to perform, and therein lies his greatest strength. Before the statement about the effectiveness of insistent prayer, Jesus solemnly says: "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" It is a question which goes directly to the heart. The Son of Man continues to come to the earth, even today. Do we receive him?
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
