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
Luke 21, 12-19
'But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name
-and that will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Make up your minds not to prepare your defence,
because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death.
You will be hated universally on account of my name,
but not a hair of your head will be lost.
Your perseverance will win you your lives.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Gospel passage, which narrates Jesus’ discourse on end times, uses typically Scriptural apocalyptic language to describe the “end times.” This page of the Gospel brings to mind that even in the beginning of this 21st century, tragedies, wars, genocides, incredible violence, and hunger continue to happen. Still today witnesses to the Gospel continue to be killed. The words of the Gospel seem to have been written for today! The number of martyrs among all Christian confessions and other religions who died in the 20th century was incredibly high. Even at the beginning of this new millennium, Christians continue to be violently killed for courageously witnessing their faith. In our eyes, they remain as precious witnesses. And they entrust us with a very precious heritage of faith to protect and to imitate in a culture in which we are almost deafened and weakened, and which drives us more and more to be slaves of materialism and consumerism for our individual well being. With their own lives, they tell us that the Gospel of love is the most precious treasure which has been given to us, and that it is the strongest and most effective witness we can give to men and women today. With its terrible and cruel violence, evil believed it could defeat them, but, with their sacrifice, their blood, their resistance to evil, they continue to help us conquer evil with love and faithfulness to the Lord. This message does not diminish with time; truly not even one part of their story of love is lessened. Their witness drives us to immerse ourselves, together with them, in this movement of love that saves us and the world. In the homily given in front of the cadaver of a priest murdered by killing squads, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero said that the Lord calls all Christians to be martyrs, that is “to give life.” To some, like that priest for whom they were celebrating a funeral mass, the Lord asks to give life to the point of shedding their blood, but to everyone the Lord asks to give life for the Gospel and for others. Yes, we receive life not to keep it for ourselves and for our concerns, but to offer it in favour of everyone, particularly for the poorest. The Lord accompanies us as he accompanied them, and will sustain us with his strength even when, because of the Gospel, those who are closest to us Jesus speaks of parents, brothers, relatives and friends can betray us. Perseverance in love will save our lives.
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
