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
Matthew 11, 16-19
'What comparison can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place:
We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't be mourners.
'For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He is possessed."
The Son of man came, eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Word of God continues to take us by hand so that we prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord Jesus who is about to be born. Even for our generationand we are now at a particularly delicate part of historyit is now time to allow our hearts to be touched by the preaching of the Gospel. It is easy to yield to the temptation to make different excuses in order to avoid the pressing invitation of the Gospel to return to the Lord with all our hearts. Unfortunately, how many times can it also be said about us that: “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” Especially in moments of crisis, we instinctively tend to think only about ourselves individually and that which concerns our situation: it is the only melody that we know by heart and that we obstinately pursue. We manage to put aside all that disturbs our egocentrism with no problems, justifying ourselves with the strangest excuses. At the end of the day, we only trust ourselves and no one else. And yet, faith, which certainly needs reason, passes through the heart, that is, in entrusting ourselves to God. Our reasoning is often made for our use and consumption so as to defend our independence, our pride, and our self-sufficiency. But even for us, as it was for John the Baptist and the people of his time, the moment to choose comes, which is either to follow Jesus or to continue to follow ourselves. This is a choice that we can no longer postpone and that the forthcoming Christmas helps us to understand and to make. The real “wisdom” of this time is to grasp the great mystery of Christmas: a God who loves us so much that he becomes a child so that he can be close to us. Christmas is the extraordinary “work” of the love of God. Indeed, it is beautiful to be touched by the Child who is coming to us so that each of us may be moved and may welcome him in his or her heart.
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
