Memory of Martin Luther King, killed on April, 4th 1968 in Memphis. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice. Read more
Memory of Martin Luther King, killed on April, 4th 1968 in Memphis. With him we remember all those who hunger and thirst for justice.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 24, 36-49
They were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you!'
In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost.
But he said, 'Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts stirring in your hearts?
See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.'
And as he said this he showed them his hands and his feet.
Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were dumbfounded; so he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?'
And they offered him a piece of grilled fish,
which he took and ate before their eyes.
Then he told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled.'
He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
and he said to them, 'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses to this.
'And now I am sending upon you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city, then, until you are clothed with the power from on high.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel of today’s Mass brings us to the end of Easter day. The two disciples of Emmaus have just arrived at the cenacle to tell the disciples all about “what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” The apostles, who were still frightened, locked themselves in the upper room. That room was certainly full of memories, but it risked becoming a closed and protective place. Their fear was something that all of us know well: how many times do we close the door of our heart, home, group, community, and family out of fear of losing something or just out of the desire of staying tranquil! But the Risen One continues to be with us, even placing himself at the centre, not to the side like one person among others, like one word spoken among others. He enters and comes to the centre, like a Word that saves. And his first words after the resurrection are a greeting of peace: “Peace be with you!” The disciples, seized by fear and resignation, take him for a ghost. First they had heard it from the women, but their distance from Jesus during the days of his Passion had obfuscated their minds and hardened their hearts. The evangelist seems to suggest that incredulity always takes hold of the disciples every time they distance themselves from Jesus and allow themselves to be overcome by fear. But Jesus immediately says, “Peace be with you!” These are the first words of the Risen, as if to say that the first fruit of resurrection is peace. Certainly it is not the peace of one’s own tranquillity but the peace that rises from the love for others. Yes, the peace of Easter makes us leave ourselves and go towards others. Easter’s peace is a new energy of love that covers the world. The apostles think that this is impossible. Jesus was definitely dead, his word had been killed for ever. He would rise from death. This is what he told them many times but they did not believe it. They are afraid at his sight. They think that a ghost has appeared to them. But Jesus lovingly rebukes them: “Why are you frightened?” And he repeats to them what he had told them in the past many times: they would put him to death and yet he would rise from the dead. How many times we do not believe Jesus’ words and when they are reproposed to us we think they are absurd, like a ghost! The Gospel creates a new reality, a new community that is real and made of people who were scattered and afraid, but after listening to the gospel they gather together in a new fraternity. This is what happened that day with Jesus, who was eating with them: the life of the years before Easter was continuing. That meal continued like those had with Jesus before. This is also what happens to us every time we gather around the altar of the Lord to break his very body.
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
