Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 8, 1-10
And now once again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples to him and said to them,
'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat.
If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.'
His disciples replied, 'Where could anyone get these people enough bread to eat in a deserted place?'
He asked them, 'How many loaves have you?' And they said to him, 'Seven.'
Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd.
They had a few small fishes as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed too.
They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over.
Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away
and at once, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The evangelist Mark, like Matthew, tells about another multiplication of the loaves. Unlike the first, here we are in pagan territory, and the language he uses reflects this peculiarity. Here, too, a large crowd gathers around Jesus. It is touching to see the care with which these people, although not belonging to the Jewish religion, hear the words of the young prophet of Nazareth. Jesus himself, certainly moved by the attention they have paid in listening, takes the initiative so that they will not return home without eating, especially because it has gotten very late. “Compassion” moves Jesus toward them. Compassion is a typical attitude of Jesus in the Gospels. It indicates the maternal love of Jesus, the same love that moved the Good Samaritan to the poor fellow on the roadside. What a difference with us who listen so little to the Word of Jesus, and even less allow it to touch our heart! Jesus expresses his concern for that crowd to his disciples as if to ask for their co-responsibility. But once again he clashes with their narrow-mindedness. They, giving heed to their “reasonableness,” and perhaps thinking that Jesus is as usual exaggerating, answer that it is not possible to feed so many people in a desert, as if Jesus had not realized the difficulty. The disciples believe more in their wisdom than in Jesus’ words. How often we hear that we must be realistic. Charity is all right, Christian love is fine, but we certainly cannot care for all the poor, all the immigrants! Yet Jesus will say, “All things can be done for the one who believes” (Mk 9:23). But even if they did not remember these words, as often happens to us who forget the Gospel, the disciples should still have thought about the miracle of the multiplication that Jesus accomplished before. Once again it is Jesus who takes the initiative: “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” the disciples respond, as if to challenge Jesus. He has the loaves brought to him, takes them in his hands and then gives them to the disciples to distribute. Jesus involves us in the miracle, as he did with the disciples. In fact, the loaves are multiplied just as the disciples distribute them. Jesus needs the disciples; he needs us, so as to repeat the miracle of the multiplication of a food that may be sufficient for everyone. The fact that it takes place a second time and in a pagan territory indicates that the bread is to be multiplied in every time and in every land. Wherever there is need for bread, love, help, support, the disciples are called to bring, multiply and distribute it. Always. Each one will give what he or she has, even if it is little. The important thing is not to keep all to yourself, otherwise no miracle will ever happen.
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
