Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 1,57-66
The time came for Elizabeth to have her child, and she gave birth to a son;
and when her neighbours and relations heard that the Lord had lavished on her his faithful love, they shared her joy.
Now it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother spoke up. 'No,' she said, 'he is to be called John.'
They said to her, 'But no one in your family has that name,'
and made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called.
The father asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they were all astonished.
At that instant his power of speech returned and he spoke and praised God.
All their neighbours were filled with awe and the whole affair was talked about throughout the hill country of Judaea.
All those who heard of it treasured it in their hearts. 'What will this child turn out to be?' they wondered. And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Gospel makes us enter in the scene of another "miraculous" birth, another of God’s work, in order to introduce us to the mystery of the birth of Jesus. It is the birth of John, which in Hebrew means "God's favour." The Baptist, the last of the prophets, gathers in himself the whole prophetic tradition of the Old Testament that is all directed toward the mystery of Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews points out: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1-2). We could say that the Baptist is the last "favour of God," the last of the prophets before the Lord speaks directly to us with his Word. The Evangelist Luke alludes to the birth of the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Their son is the fruit of their union, but the angel announced the child’s coming, and he is also the symbol of the intervention of God. Zechariah cannot retain the joy he feels at the miracle. He has recognized - after a moment of unbelief - that the Word of God is strong and effective. He has become a believer. He is no longer mute - his tongue is loosened, and he can speak. His heart is full of joy because of this son, the fruit of having listened to the Word of God. The people of Zechariah’s household were not the only ones to be astonished by John’s birth; the neighbours also joined in the excitement, as always happens when the Gospel is listened to and put into practice. The Gospel always creates a new climate and atmosphere among people; it starts by transforming the heart of the believer, and then it transforms the hearts of those around him or her. This is the way of changing the world that the Gospel points to us. It is not a superficial path; it is a deep and interior way that leads to heaven. Christmas means to welcome the Gospel into our hearts and start communicating it to others. Well aware of the dynamics of faith, Silesius, a seventeenth-century mystic, said, "If Christ were to be born a thousand times in Bethlehem but never in your heart, you would be lost for ever."
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
