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
Mark 16, 9-15
Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils.
She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them.
But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him.
After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country.
These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either.
Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
And he said to them, 'Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The evangelist Mark also, along with John, writes that the risen Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene. This woman, who Jesus had liberated from the seven demons, becomes the “first” announcer of the resurrection. She, “who had loved much” and who for this reason had been forgiven greatly, receives the privilege of being the first disciple of the Risen One and the first to whom is given the task of announcing the resurrection. The apostles, again showing their narrow-mindedness, do not believe her. Again they are slaves to the mentality of this world and above all to their forgetfulness. From the moment of his resurrection, the Lord avails himself of her weakness to confound the presumption of the disciples. The Byzantine tradition with great spiritual wisdom calls her “the apostle of the apostles.” In just a few lines the evangelist recounts Jesus’ encounter with the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke’s narration is more stretched out) and underscores that he had not yet appeared to the apostlesthat is, to those he had charged with guiding his Church. Again, the apostles do not want to believe the two disciples who were telling them what had happened to them. The evangelist seems to want to stress the difficulty in believing in the resurrection from the very beginning of the Church, from the very first day. In any case, the difficulties and incredulity that the disciples encounter cannot stop the haste of announcing to all Jesus’ victory over death. Entrusted to each disciple is the serious and exultant task of communicating the resurrection of Jesus, his victory over evil and death. It is not by chance that the first announcers of the resurrection were not the apostles, but a woman and two anonymous disciples. It is as if to say that it is the task of each believer to communicate to all the Gospel of Easter.
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
