Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 1, 21-28
They went as far as Capernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.
And at once in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted,
'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.'
But Jesus rebuked it saying, 'Be quiet! Come out of him!'
And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.
The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, 'Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.'
And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
With his small community of disciples, Jesus enters Capernaum, the largest Galilean city of the time. He chooses it as a hometown for himself and for the small group of disciples he had gathered. He does not withdraw far and distant from the ordinary lives of the people. In fact, he did not come to save himself or to reach his personal perfection. On the contrary, he wanted to save all from loneliness and death. This is why he settled in this lively city nearby the lake. The small group of people does not remain closed in on themselves, content solely with their own lives. Their gaze, starting from the Teacher’s, looked at the entire city, even more at the entire region. From this, we can say that the Christian community should not be turned inwards on itself, but rather should look at the entire city as a "community" of men and women that the Gospel should ferment with love. The Christian community does not have a project of its own to impose on others, but rather it has the mission to include the strength of the Gospel in the fabric of the city’s life. The evangelist writes that as soon as Jesus entered in the city, he went directly to the synagogue to preach. The first service that the Church does in the city is to communicate the Gospel. Jesus does not delay its proclamation. He does not put off his mission in order to think about the certainly needed accommodations for the small community. In sum, he does not waste time in the organization of the house, in the definition of the programme or in listing the goals. How many times we cover our laziness, or worse our little faith, with the pretence of preparing programmes that we think are indispensable. Rightly so, John Paul II said that "we already have a programme: the Gospel." What truly counts is to communicate the Gospel with authority, the authority of love as Jesus himself did. He spoke with authority and not like the scribes. What does it mean? It means that the Lord wanted to touch the hearts of people in order to change them, to make them better, to make them beat with his mercy. The Gospel is a demanding word, one that requires the change of the heart, and which transforms deeply those who listen to it. This is why all those who listen to it are amazed. Jesus is different from the scribes: he does not merely pronounce words; he wants to change the lives of those who listen to him. Jesus’ authority is revealed as he delivers a man who was possessed by an impure spirit. The Gospel is an authoritative word because it does not oppress people; on the contrary, it delivers the men and women who are possessed by numerous wicked spirits that make them slaves, even today.
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
