Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 16, 9-15
Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils.
She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them.
But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him.
After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country.
These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either.
Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
And he said to them, 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Like John, the evangelist Mark also writes that the risen Jesus first appears to Mary Magdalene. This woman, whom Jesus had free from seven demons, becomes the "first" person to announce the resurrection. She, who "had loved much," and consequently had much forgiven, receives the privilege of being the first disciple of the Risen One and the first person given the task of announcing the resurrection. Once again demonstrating their small-mindedness, the apostles do not believe her; they are still slaves of the mentality of this world and above all of their forgetfulness. Immediately after his resurrection, the Lord uses the weakness of this woman to confound the disciples’ presumption. With great spiritual wisdom, the Byzantine tradition calls her the "apostle of the apostles." In a few lines, the evangelist reports Jesus’ encounter with the two disciples of Emmaus (narrated much more extensively by Luke) and repeats that he had not yet appeared to the apostles, that is, to those whom he had placed as leaders of his Church. And once again the apostles do not want to believe the two disciples when they tell them what happened. The evangelist seems to want to underline the difficulty people have had believing in the resurrection from the very beginning of the Church, from the first day. In any case, the difficulties and the unbelief that the disciples encounter should not hold back the haste to proclaim Jesus’ victory over death to all. Every disciple is entrusted with the serious and uplifting responsibility of communicating Jesus’ resurrection, his victory over evil and death. It is not an accident that the first people to announce the resurrection are not the apostles, but a woman and two anonymous disciples. It is as if to say that it is every believer’s responsibility to communicate the Gospel of Easter to all.
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
