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 12, 13-17
Next they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to catch him out in what he said.
These came and said to him, 'Master, we know that you are an honest man, that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you, and that you teach the way of God in all honesty. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or not?'
Recognising their hypocrisy he said to them, 'Why are you putting me to the test? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.'
They handed him one and he said to them, 'Whose portrait is this? Whose title?' They said to him, 'Caesar's.'
Jesus said to them, 'Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar -- and God what belongs to God.' And they were amazed at him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel of Mark is accompanying us through the last days of Jesus’ life before the Passion. His days are filled with preaching and debates. The opposition against him is growing stronger and more pressing. The Gospel now presents the Pharisees and the Herodians, who ask about the tribute to Caesar. Their duplicity is noted at the very beginning. They flatter Jesus to set a trap for him. But shrewdness will not get us close to the Gospel. The word of Jesus cannot be bought with trickery or deception. It is clear and good, without deception or subterfuge. Jesus does not accept their falsity and changes the question. We need to give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but likewise everything that bears God’s likeness, God’s "image," should be given to God. It is on this issue that Jesus is asking for a decision: give to God what belongs to God. What is God’s, if not human beings? In every human being is written God’s image; every human being, even the smallest and most defenceless, belongs to God and should return to God. The absolute primacy of God in human life should be defended at all cost, just as civil society and its laws should be given respect. This Gospel passage helps us be respectful and tolerant, knowing that no one has a right to injure or humiliate human life. God alone is the Father and Lord of all. Consequently, Christians are called to obey laws and sincerely collaborate with legitimate authorities. But Jesus’ invitation to give to God what is God’s recalls us to our responsibility to give witness to the Gospel and to live out the teachings of the Church with liberty and conscience, so that the lives of men and women might be protected and safeguarded in our societies and in the world.
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
