Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 8, 23-27
Then he got into the boat followed by his disciples.
Suddenly a storm broke over the lake, so violent that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep.
So they went to him and woke him saying, 'Save us, Lord, we are lost!'
And he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened, you who have so little faith?' And then he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
They were astounded and said, 'Whatever kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus is in the boat with his disciples, going to the other side of the lake. During the passage, he falls asleep. Suddenly, as often happens in that lake when the winds blow from north-east, a storm comes up. How many storms come and “make the world fall on us,” such as episodes of violence or terminal sicknesses or accidents which extinguish the lives of our beloved. Like the disciples, we experience our frailty, our lack of certainty and true protections. Although the boat is swamped by the waves, Jesus incredibly continues sleeping. The disciples are afraid and are more than bewildered by their Master asleep. It seems as though he is not interested in them. They wake him up and cry, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” It is a cry of desperation and trust at the same time, just as our prayer often is. Certainly, in their opinion, Jesus is indifferent. How often our weak faith made us believe that the Lord does not defend us, does not help us, does not protect us. We actually forget that Jesus is in our same boat. How many are caught by the storm and have nothing else to hang on to but a cry for help? Such a simple cry is very human and describes well our little faith. Jesus wakes up and rebukes his disciples for being people of little faith. They should have known that with the Lord there is no need to be afraid. So sings Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil for you are with me.” Jesus is not indifferent, but serene, as one who abandons himself to the protection of the Father. Faced with the serenity of Jesus, the Apostles, and we too, are really people of little faith. Nevertheless when the storm hits us we rightfully imitate the cry of those disciples. Jesus helps us to look within ourselves, our true strength, because he makes us discover how, through faith, nothing is impossible to those who believe. Anyway in this case too, Jesus stands up in the boat, faces the winds and water in the storm, and rebukes them. And “there was a dead calm.” One word by Jesus is enough, and evil retreats. The Evangelist suggests that those who witnessed the event- not only the disciples, but also those who might have seen it from the shore are amazed. A disciple is born, or a conversion happens, when one is amazed at seeing the Word of Jesus calm every storm in life, even when it seems as though there is nothing else left but to sink.
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
