Memory of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Memory of the victims of terrorism and violence and prayer for peace. Read more
Memory of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Memory of the victims of terrorism and violence and prayer for peace.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 6, 43-49
'There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit.
Every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles.
Good people draw what is good from the store of goodness in their hearts; bad people draw what is bad from the store of badness. For the words of the mouth flow out of what fills the heart.
'Why do you call me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?
'Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them -- I will show you what such a person is like.
Such a person is like the man who, when he built a house, dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built.
But someone who listens and does nothing is like the man who built a house on soil, with no foundations; as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Through the image of the good tree which bears good fruit, Jesus wants to give a picture of how the life of the disciple and of every Christian community should be. Obviously, if the tree is bad it will only be able to produce bad fruit. It is an image which speaks for itself and demands from each one of us a serious examination of conscience, especially when we complain about the few fruits we see around us. Goodness and badness however are not dimensions tied to an external condition, or to the natural temperament each one of us has. They are closely connected to the heart. It is in the heart that the difficult battle between good and evil, between faith and pride is played out. That is between being "good" or "bad." We should keep in mind in any case that, no one can declare himself free of sin, of weakness, of wretchedness, even inside. What Jesus asks -this is also evident in other Gospel passages-is that we pay attention to the state of our hearts. Our behaviour and the very structuring of our lives depend on the state of our hearts. Jesus says: "The good person out of the treasure of his heart brings out good things; the bad person from his or her bad store-house brings forth evil." In another place he says: "For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come" (Mk 7:21). Obviously, a good heart produces good intentions. Our whole interior life should be intent on changing our hearts. This involves, first of all, eradicating every bad instinct, every enclosure, every instance of being turned in upon oneself, and above all, eradicating the kind of pride which leads to a false sense of self-sufficiency. The building up of our own lives, like that of the Christian community itself, begins with the interior listening to the Word of God, that is allowing it to be planted in our hearts so that it bears fruit. Jesus ends his speech with the parable of the house founded on the rock. The words of the Gospel, when listened to and put into practice daily are like the foundations for a house. Every day the Gospel should nourish our lives, our thoughts, our decisions, and our actions. It is not enough to listen to the Gospel once and then put it aside and perhaps forget about it, as often happens. In so doing we shun the force of life that flows directly from the word of the Lord. Can the foundation of a house be put aside? The Gospel is the living foundation of our daily life, supporting it against the impetuous waves of evil that does not cease raging against us.
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
