Memory of St. Sergii Radonezhsky of the Russian church. He founded the Lavra (monastery) of the Most Holy Trinity near Moscow. Memory of the evangelical pastor Paul Schneider who died in the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald on July 18, 1939. Read more
Memory of St. Sergii Radonezhsky of the Russian church. He founded the Lavra (monastery) of the Most Holy Trinity near Moscow. Memory of the evangelical pastor Paul Schneider who died in the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald on July 18, 1939.
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
Matthew 12, 38-42
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees spoke up. 'Master,' they said, 'we should like to see a sign from you.'
He replied, 'It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign! The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah remained in the belly of the sea-monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
On Judgement Day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and they will be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and look, there is something greater than Jonah here.
On Judgement Day the Queen of the South will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look, there is something greater than Solomon here.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
How many times have even we, like those scribes and Pharisees, asked for a sign to calm us down and reassure us! It seems like a nice enough request, and yet it is full of ambiguity: we do not think that Jesus’ witness is enough, what he did and said, we seek reassurances to free s from the toil of choosing and deciding. And anyway, what sign is greater than the Gospel? Jesus himself could give no sign other than that of Jonah, in other words, the mystery of his death and resurrection. In fact, as Jonah was kept three days in the belly of the fish and was then made to go out and preach to Nineveh, so must the Son of man too be three days inside the earth and then will be raised by the Father in order to be saviour of all. Jesus is the sign given by God to humanity, a sign infinitely greater than that which Jonah was to Nineveh. And yet we are at pains to believe Jesus, to convert ourselves to him, to trust in his word. Even the queen of Sheba -Jesus continuesmade a long trip to go hear the wisdom of Solomon. And we hardly even just open the Gospel and read it. Today there is need not of extraordinary signs, astonishing, esoteric, but of a strong and clear proclamation of the Gospel, together with a broad manifestation of mercy especially towards the weakest. These are the signs that Jesus himself put into action and which he has entrusted as a task to do to the disciples of every age. This Gospel age questions every disciple and every Christian community about their truly being a "sign" of love and mercy. It is the task which Jesus continues to entrust to his Church: to be light and salt of the earth.
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
