Memorial of Saint John Damascene, priest and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. Prayer for Christians in Syria Read more
Memorial of Saint John Damascene, priest and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century. Prayer for Christians in Syria
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 15, 29-37
Jesus went on from there and reached the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and he went up onto the mountain. He took his seat,
and large crowds came to him bringing the lame, the crippled, the blind, the dumb and many others; these they put down at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were astonished to see the dumb speaking, the cripples whole again, the lame walking and the blind with their sight, and they praised the God of Israel.
But Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them off hungry, or they might collapse on the way.'
The disciples said to him, 'Where in a deserted place could we get sufficient bread for such a large crowd to have enough to eat?'
Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves have you?' They said, 'Seven, and a few small fish.'
Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground,
and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks he broke them and began handing them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds.
They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected what was left of the scraps, seven baskets full.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Gospel passage brings us close to Jesus who, returning to Galilee, climbs once more up the mountain: “Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain.” Biblical tradition tells us that a mountain represents a privileged place, where one often meets the Lord. The evangelist Matthew tries to show how much Jesus’ mission is connected with the Father in heaven. All of Jesus’ acts of love, compassion, healing, and salvation spring from the Father. This high mountain is Jesus himself, and it is from him that emanates a divine power. Because of this, he himself becomes a sanctuary, that is, the place where God renders himself present and to whom the sick, poor, and lame want to come in order to be healed. And as the evangelist notes, Jesus heals them. Everyone was amazed by his work of healing. For three days, the crowd continued to hear him speak. What a contrast to our laziness and distraction when we hear the Word of God! Matthew writes that at the end of the three days, Jesus feels compassion for the crowd. Indeed, after having nourished them with the bread of his Word, he wanted now to feed them with bread for their bodies. Jesus takes to heart our entire life, both spiritual and physical. Unfortunately today, we are prey to a culture of materialism, which is like a subtle dictatorship. We concentrate on material things, that which we touch and see and what satisfies our desires, but we forget the spiritual dimension and make God and things of the spirit lesser priorities. This way of operating leads only to a hardening of heart and mind; that is, we fail to understand and be compassionate. This is what happened in the case of the disciples: they did not understand that the crowd also needed something to eat. And when Jesus says to them that he does not want to send them away hungry, the disciples know none other than their resignation: there’s nothing they can do. Besides, how can they find enough to feed this crowd in a deserted place? Even we would have answered as they did. Yet Jesus is not resigned, for he knows that nothing is impossible for God. He has the seven loaves and the few fish that were brought over, and after having “given thanks” - that is, after having prayed - he multiplies them enough to feed everyone. The miracle is performed: all are sated. This Gospel passage is a pressing invitation for all believers so that they feel Jesus’ same compassion for the weak and the poor, and live with the same certainty that nothing is impossible for God. Faith is able to multiply even the little and poor things that we have as far as we lay them in Jesus’ hands.
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
