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
Matthew 15, 29-37
Jesus went on from there and reached the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and he went up onto the mountain. He took his seat,
and large crowds came to him bringing the lame, the crippled, the blind, the dumb and many others; these they put down at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were astonished to see the dumb speaking, the cripples whole again, the lame walking and the blind with their sight, and they praised the God of Israel.
But Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them off hungry, or they might collapse on the way.'
The disciples said to him, 'Where in a deserted place could we get sufficient bread for such a large crowd to have enough to eat?'
Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves have you?' They said, 'Seven, and a few small fish.'
Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground,
and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds.
They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected what was left of the scraps, seven baskets full.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In this time of Advent we will be guided especially by the evangelist Matthew and when we get closer to Christmas by some passages of the first chapters of Luke. Today’s passage accompanies us with the story of Jesus who, after returning to Galilee, once again goes up the mountain. Matthew writes: "He passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down." In the biblical tradition, the mountain represents the place where the Lord can be encountered. The evangelist wants to show how tightly Jesus’ mission is bound to his relationship with the Father in heaven. It is from the Father that Jesus’ works of love, compassion, healing, and salvation flow. That high place, which reveals the unique intimacy between the Father and the Son, becomes like a sanctuary to which the sick, the poor, and the lame flock to be welcomed and healed. The evangelist notes that Jesus healed the sick and spoke to all those who flocked to him. The people listened for three days - how unlike the greed and the distraction we often display when listening to the word of God! At the end of the three days, Matthew writes, "Jesus felt compassion for the crowd." In effect, after having fed them with the bread of his word, he now wanted to feed them with bread for the body. Jesus is concerned about the entire person; he cares for every aspect of our lives. The disciples, on the other hand, are insensitive to the situation. When Jesus points it out to them and asks them to help, they only respond with their sad resignation; there is nothing they can do. We would have answered in the same way. But Jesus, who is not resigned, tells them to bring him the seven loaves and the fish, and he multiplies them for all. This miracle is born from passionate love. This Gospel passage is an urgent invitation for us to let ourselves be moved by the same compassion that Jesus feels for the weak and the poor so that we too might participate in the miracle of the multiplication of love.
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
