Memory of Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. He was condemned to death, brought to Rome where he died a martyr (+107). Read more
Memory of Saint Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. He was condemned to death, brought to Rome where he died a martyr (+107).
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
Luke 12, 13-21
A man in the crowd said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.'
He said to him, 'My friend, who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?'
Then he said to them, 'Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.'
Then he told them a parable, 'There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land,
thought to himself, "What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops."
Then he said, "This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them,
and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time."
But God said to him, "Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?"
So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus again shows us what the disciples’ attitude towards material goods should be. The topic is brought up by a man who asks Jesus to intervene so that two brothers divide their inheritance equally. But Jesus refuses to intervene. He is not a master in apportionment, but in the things which have to do with God and the human soul. Thus He does not intervene in questions of inheritance but rather in the hearts of men and women. It is in fact in the hearts of the two brothers that greed nests, covetousness, interest only for oneself. Goods are external and do not represent themselves as an occasion for evil. The heart of the two brothers-as often our hearts arewere weighed down by the desire for money and the desire to possess. In such a terrain nothing but division and struggle can sprout, as Paul reminds Timothy: "The love for money is a root of all kinds of evil." Jesus explains this behaviour with the parable of the foolish rich man. This man believed that happiness could be had by accumulating material possessions. There are many also today who think in this way. How many continue to sell even their own heart to seek riches and consume their whole life for them! There is a dictatorship of materialism which thrusts us with incredible force to spend our life in order to possess and consume riches and material goods. Jesus tells us that in the life of this rich man-but it is the logic of the greedythere is no space for others, because his preoccupations are directed only towards accumulating goods for himself. But this rich man has forgotten the essential, i.e., that no one is master of his own life. We can possess riches, but we are not masters of life. And happiness does not lie in possessing goods but in loving God and the brothers and sisters. There is a fundamental truth which is true for all: we have not been created in order to accumulate riches but to love and be loved. Love is the radical good humans must seek every which way. Those who live with love accumulate for themselves the true treasure for today and for the future. Love, this extraordinary heavenly treasure, unlike earthly goods which can be lost, runs no risk of being stolen. Love cannot be bought, it is a gift one receives from God, and neither can it be stolen. Obviously we can dissipate it if we do not guard it, and above all if we do not distribute it to others. The fruits of love remain forever. Jesus takes up a biblical tradition which compares good works to treasures kept in heaven, as an ancient Jewish saying went: "My parents accumulated treasures underground, and I have accumulated treasures which bear interest."
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
