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
Matthew 13, 44-46
'The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off in his joy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.
'Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls;
when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel passage proclaimed to us offers a pressing invitation to welcome into our hearts the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. The two parables show the determination, first, of a farmer and then of a merchant to sell everything to secure the treasure they discovered. In the first parable a farmer unexpectedly unearths a treasure in a field in which he is working. Since he does not own the field, he needs to buy it if he wants possession of the treasure. This need provokes his decision to risk everything he has so as not to miss this truly exceptional opportunity. The protagonist of the second parable is a rich merchant who deals in precious jewels and who recognizes with his expert eye a pearl of rare value at a market. He, too, decides to sell everything he owns to buy that pearl. Having made these unexpected discoveries, both make a decisive and clear decision. Certainly they give up everything they own, but what they gain is incomparable. The urgent series of actions they both follow reveals their intelligence and business acumen: each one finds the treasure, keeps it hidden, sells what he has and then buys it. And most of all, both express a very high interest in what they discovered, such that they willingly put everything else at stake to get it. What they sell has little value compared to what they buy. The Kingdom of Heaven warrants this industriousness and the sale of things less valuable. The Gospel message is very clear: nothing is worth as much as the Kingdom of God, for which it is worth leaving everything else behind. Moreover this choice is a smart one! On the contrary how often we quickly sell everything, even our soul, to possess whatever interests useven if it is not worth much! The true issue is whether we really value the Lord and his friendship, and can appreciate the joy and fullness of life that God unexpectedly presents to us, as he did to the farmer and the merchant.
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
