Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Luke 9, 22-25
He said, 'The Son of man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'
Then, speaking to all, he said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.
Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, will save it.
What benefit is it to anyone to win the whole world and forfeit or lose his very self?
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The passage of the Gospel of Luke, together with the one of Deuteronomy (30:15-20), puts us on the path to this time of Lent. The Deuteronomy passage reports part of Moses’ third discourse to the people of Israel and presents two ways, the one of good and the one of evil. The Lord has much respect for our freedom. He does not force us to goodness; He proposes it to us because goodness can be only the result of love. He says, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” Yes, life means loving, while death means following evil. If we go away from God and His commandments, He warns us, “I declare to you today that you shall perish.” In this time it is worth reflecting on the responsibility that each of us has: the choice of the path of good or evil. We can choose. Nowadays everything is justified, even evil. But good and evil, as well as love and its opposite, are the result of a choice, or maybe of many little choices which become established habits. Jesus himself returns to this subject in the passage we have read, saying, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” Obviously we all strive to think about ourselves, to get rid of all difficulties, problems, anguishes and above all to think of ourselves, of our interests and our success. It is the evil instinct of self-love that is rooted in the heart of every human being. This instinct, the instinct that drives us to think only of ourselves, is accompanied by the disregard of others, and often even hostility towards them, especially if we feel them as potential competitors or enemies. Jesus warns: “What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” Thirst of gain at any cost seems like a fever that never leaves us and leads us to ruin. How many lives are sacrificed on the altar of profit! How many families and relationships are burned to give primacy to gain! Jesus teaches another way. And he does not teach with words, but by his example. He goes to Jerusalem to save us, to love us, even though this choice also involves suffering and death. But on the “third day” he will be risen to a new and full life. Jesus is not the powerful and strong Messiah people would like. He came to give his life as a ransom for all. His strength is not that of men and women, but that of love that knows no bounds, not even the limit of self-love. Turning to all those who follow him, Jesus explains what are the demands of following the Gospel: moving away from selfishness, giving up exclusive self-love, abandoning self-centred habits and always imitating Jesus’ lifestyle, i.e. living no longer for themselves, but for the Lord and for others. This is the meaning of the exhortation to deny oneself and take up one’s cross. It is the way of the true gain. Those who want to save their life, that is habits and self-centred traditions, will lose it. Salvation does not consist in having many things but in being big hearted and passionate for the Gospel.
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
