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
Mark 7, 14-23
He called the people to him again and said, 'Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean; it is the things that come out of someone that make that person unclean.
Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!'
When he had gone into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them, 'Even you -- don't you understand? Can't you see that nothing that goes into someone from outside can make that person unclean,
because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach and passes into the sewer?' (Thus he pronounced all foods clean.)
And he went on, 'It is what comes out of someone that makes that person unclean.
For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder,
adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly.
All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The passage continues the discussion about what is pure and impure that began in yesterday’s Gospel. It is an important theme in Jesus’ teaching. So he calls the crowd around him to show them the true religious dimension of life. He now responds directly to the question the Pharisees had asked him about why his disciples ate with "defiled hands," that is, without washing them. In Jesus’ words, his disciples do so because, "whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile.... It is what comes out of a person that defiles." The key point is the heart. It is from the heart that wicked thoughts, impure intentions, and bad decisions come. Consequently, it is our heart that we need to take care of. It is here that we need to uproot the bitter weeds of hatred, revenge, avarice, and the abuse of power. Jesus says clearly, "For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." It is these bad feelings that give rise to violence and conflict. The central battle of our lives is fought in the heart, to free it from bad instincts and to sow it with the seed of love. This happens when we sow the Word of God in our hearts and let it bear fruit. Mary, the first believer, teaches us this from the beginning. The Gospel writes that she witnessed what occurred to Jesus and "treasured all these things in her heart." This is why her thoughts and her actions were good, because they came from a heart purified by continuous listening to the Word of God and uninterrupted contemplation of what Jesus was doing. This is the path we need to follow if we want to live with pure hearts.
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
