Memory of Gigi, a child from Naples who was killed by violence. With him we remember all the children who suffer and who die because of human violence. Prayer for all children.
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Memory of Gigi, a child from Naples who was killed by violence. With him we remember all the children who suffer and who die because of human violence. Prayer for all children.
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 7,19-23
sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?' When the men reached Jesus they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, "Are you the one who is to come or are we to expect someone else?" ' At that very time he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and of evil spirits, and gave the gift of sight to many who were blind. Then he gave the messengers their answer, 'Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor; and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Church’s liturgy continues these days to unsettle our laziness and superficiality so that we can prepare to receive the Christmas mystery in our lives. The surrounding atmosphere is not favourable to reflecting on the deep meaning of Christmas. Easily it is precisely the "Christmas atmosphere" which risks taking us far away from the mystery of God who chose the poverty and weakness of the human condition to save us. The Gospel, as if to make a contrast with the slavery of our banal distractions, presents us with John the Baptist already in prison. And yet, even in jail he continues to await the Messiah who will deliver everyone. He does not resign to his chains, he does not stop waiting and hoping, he does not let himself get drowsy in the flabby and superficial climate of the world. He sends his own to Jesus to ask him: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" John believes in God’s promises and, in a certain way, wants to hasten them. Jesus’ reply evokes a passage dear to Scriptures where what happens when the Messiah arrives is described: "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them." John understands that this prophecy has come true with Jesus and perhaps he can repeat in his heart the same prayer Simeon made when he took the Child in his arms: "Now Lord you can let your servant go in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation." We who today hear this Gospel word are reminded of the signs that indicate God’s presence in human events: to serve the sick and weak, to give back sight to the one who doesn’t see and strength to those who can’t walk and to announce the Gospel to the poor. How should we wait for Christmas? How should we announce it to the world? How can we indicate to ourselves and to others that the Lord has come to visit us? The only way that remains is that shown by Jesus to John’s disciples: the concrete witness of the Gospel of love. Christmas time is a favourable occasion for us too to live this page of the Gospel.
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
