Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 11, 11-26
He entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple; and when he had surveyed it all, as it was late by now, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Next day as they were leaving Bethany, he felt hungry.
Seeing a fig tree in leaf some distance away, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it, but when he came up to it he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs.
And he addressed the fig tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard him say this.
So they reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out the men selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers.
Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple.
And he taught them and said, 'Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples? But you have turned it into a bandits' den.'
This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find some way of doing away with him; they were afraid of him because the people were carried away by his teaching.
And when evening came he went out of the city.
Next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered to the roots.
Peter remembered. 'Look, Rabbi,' he said to Jesus, 'the fig tree that you cursed has withered away.'
Jesus answered, 'Have faith in God.
In truth I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, "Be pulled up and thrown into the sea," with no doubt in his heart, but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
I tell you, therefore, everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours.
And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, soyour Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
When the day of his entrance into Jerusalem as Messiah had ended, Jesus returned to Bethany, probably to the house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. These are the most difficult days of his life, and he needs a friendly house to rest in, even if he has to preach in the city of Jerusalem. The next morning he returns to the city. And as he is going down to Jerusalem, he begins to feel hungry. There is a leafy fig tree growing alongside the road. Jesus approaches it, but does not find any fruit. He curses it, and the fig tree withers. It is not an act of spite, but of symbolism. It is true that Jesus was hungry, but for love, not for bread, as is shown in other parts of the Gospel. He was thirsty, but for affection, not for water, as on the cross. If we are barren of love, if we are not generous with affection, or if we are not available to those who are in need - that is, if we are leafy like that fig tree, but without fruit - we will be useless to ourselves and to others. After reaching Jerusalem, Jesus goes directly to the temple, the heart of the holy city, as if to take possession of it. Once there, Jesus begins to "drive out those who were selling and those who were buying." It is not just a moralizing gesture meant to put an end to abuses and regularize the life of the temple. Jesus’ actions are much more radical. He "drives out" from the temple, from the community, and from the heart, the sort of religion based merely on external rituals that feed on false and grasping relationships and that relates to God and to brothers and sisters as if in a market where relationships are based on buying and selling instead of the gratuitousness of love. The temple is a house of prayer; it is the place for a direct relationship with God; it is the place where the children gather and are welcomed by the Father. Jesus himself is the true temple, a house open to all men and women, even foreigners, accessible to "all the peoples" of the earth. His house is the kingdom of love and forgiveness and of fraternity and peace. Above all, it is the kingdom of gratuitousness, where people do not live and act with the expectation of getting something back from others. The Lord invites us to a gratuitous love that has no reservations and does not demand reciprocity as a condition.
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
