Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Matthew 5,43-48
'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Jesus' speech on God's "justice" continues; it is very different from that of human beings. Jesus takes up the ancient law of the retribution that tried to regulate vengeance so that it would not be unlimited. And, in effect, this Mosaic arrangement played a balancing function within society. Thus any arbitrary exaggeration was avoided. One could go so far as to kill for any reason. Aware of the reasonableness of the law of retribution, Jesus overturns everything. He affirms that not only should vengeance, even if regulated, be banished, but love should be proposed as the supreme law, to the point of loving one's enemies and praying for them. These words of Jesus appear completely alien to the common feeling of our society where it is difficult even to love others, neighbours, those we meet in the streets and in the squares. But this is the perspective that Jesus outlines for the disciples. Christians will be recognized not only by how they love each other - and therefore certainly not by a selfish life aimed at defending themselves, often without others or against others - but also by how they love their enemies. Unfortunately, it is easy to detect in Christians a behaviour like that of those who do not follow the Gospel: we love those from whom we are reciprocated, we greet those who greet us, we worry only about those who reciprocate favours. But in this way Christian life is as if thwarted. And we stop being salt of the earth and light of the world. Jesus' command is totally opposed to the life we habitually lead. It is in fact introduced by "But I tell you". Jesus asks us to turn life upside down. And the reason lies in the fact that God himself is turned upside down with respect to the world.
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
