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 19, 2-12
Large crowds followed him and he healed them there.
Some Pharisees approached him, and to put him to the test they said, 'Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?'
He answered, 'Have you not read that the Creator from the beginning made them male and female
and that he said: This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and the two become one flesh?
They are no longer two, therefore, but one flesh. So then, what God has united, human beings must not divide.'
They said to him, 'Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?'
He said to them, 'It was because you were so hard-hearted, that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning.
Now I say this to you: anyone who divorces his wife -- I am not speaking of an illicit marriage -- and marries another, is guilty of adultery.'
The disciples said to him, 'If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is advisable not to marry.'
But he replied, 'It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted.
There are eunuchs born so from their mother's womb, there are eunuchs made so by human agency and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus’ mission in Judea is beginning and is where he will remain until the end of his days. A great crowd is following him, and, as always, he continues to teach and heal the sick people who are brought to him. Obviously his work, which already met obstacles in Galilee, will find even greater opposition here. The spirit of evil does not cease its absolute opposition to the Gospel. The Pharisees become its instruments and ask Jesus about "divorcing" a wife: whether is lawful to divorce her for "any cause," as some people maintained. There was considerable debate on this question at that time. Jesus, however, does not enter directly into the question and prefers to remind them of God’s original will concerning the union between a man and a woman: the family should be based on indissoluble love. If Moses later allowed divorce, it was because of the human and spiritual coarseness of the Jews of that time. In short, not only does Jesus not accept the interpretation of the rabbis, he condemns the practice of divorce that was more or less allowed by the Pharisees. Jesus reaffirms the absolute primacy of love in all human relationships and therefore also between the man and woman who unite in matrimony; there love cannot be dissolved. These are high and demanding words. They seem problematic even to the disciples, who express their disappointment by saying that it is not a good idea to get married. Irrevocability already seemed like a heavy burden back then, and today it seems even heavier in a cultural climate in which any thought of stability seems impossible. But Jesus is very clear and determined. Without commenting on what the disciples just said, he continues to speak about continence: there are those who "have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven." The choice not to marry in order to dedicate oneself completely to God does not discredit matrimony, but it certainly underlines the radicality of choosing God. It is as if to say that some people demonstrate the God is all they need through their very existence. It is an act that appears paradoxical, but it is the consequence of the Gospel choice that responds to one of the spiritual dimensions of the Church: a person does not tie him or herself to anyone else besides Jesus alone. In this sense, being celibate for the Lord has an extraordinary value, not because it demonstrates someone’s capacity for self-sacrifice, but because it indicates a radical option for the Lord.
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
