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 1, 5-25
In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron.
Both were upright in the sight of God and impeccably carried out all the commandments and observances of the Lord.
But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years.
Now it happened that it was the turn of his section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God
when it fell to him by lot, as the priestly custom was, to enter the Lord's sanctuary and burn incense there.
And at the hour of incense all the people were outside, praying.
Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense.
The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear.
But the angel said to him, 'Zechariah, do not be afraid, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you shall name him John.
He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink; even from his mother's womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
and he will bring back many of the Israelites to the Lord their God.
With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to reconcile fathers to their children and the disobedient to the good sense of the upright, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.'
Zechariah said to the angel, 'How can I know this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.'
The angel replied, 'I am Gabriel, who stand in God's presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.
Look! Since you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.'
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long.
When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them and remained dumb.
When his time of service came to an end he returned home.
Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept to herself, saying,
'The Lord has done this for me, now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered in public.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel of Luke opens with an angel who speaks with the priest Zechariah while he is in the temple; the angel announces to him the birth of a son, John. The old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, did not have children because they were barren and now, in old age, they did not expect anything else other than the conclusion of their lives. Their future was not with hope but with death. In this couple we can see the lives of many elderly who are resigned to spend the last years of their lives in a more or less sad way, often alone, and in any case, without hope for the future. It is a condition that is becoming more and more common and crueller in our opulent societies. The progress of medicine, fortunately, prolongs life, and, unfortunately, the time of loneliness and sadness also becomes longer. Fewer and fewer people take care of the elderly and truly few people spend time talking with them. And yet, the Lord sends an angel to speak with Zechariah and to tell him that he will have a son. It seems impossible to Zechariah; the absence of hope was so rooted in his heart that it was without hope of any newness. The old priest probably thought that it was too much. And hopelessness wins out over the angel’s words. It is what happens also to us when we allow hopelessness to win in our heart, that same hopelessness that makes us unbelievers of the Gospel words. The strength and the love of the Lord often clash with our incredulity. And as it happened to Zechariah, we become mute, unable to say words of hope for ourselves and for others. But if we welcome God’s love, if we let the word of the angel reach our heart, our incredulity and sterility will be defeated. We too will see a new future rise; we too like Elizabeth and Zechariah, will be able to conceive a new future, a new world, a new fraternity. No one is too old to listen to the Gospel and generate a better future for oneself and for others. This is the meaning of Christmas that we are about to celebrate.
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
