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
2 Maccabees 6, 18-31
Eleazar, one of the foremost teachers of the Law, a man already advanced in years and of most noble appearance, had his mouth forced open, to make him eat a piece of pork.
But he, resolving to die with honour rather than to live disgraced, walked of his own accord to the torture of the wheel,
having spat the stuff out, as befits those with the courage to reject what is not lawful to taste, rather than live.
The people supervising the ritual meal, forbidden by the Law, because of the length of time for which they had known him, took him aside and privately urged him to have meat brought of a kind he could properly use, prepared by himself, and only pretend to eat the portions of sacrificial meat as prescribed by the king;
this action would enable him to escape death, by availing himself of an act of kindness prompted by their long friendship.
But having taken a noble decision worthy of his years and the dignity of his great age and the well-earned distinction of his grey hairs, worthy too of his impeccable conduct from boyhood, and above all of the holy legislation established by God himself, he answered accordingly, telling them to send him at once to Hades.
'Pretence', he said, 'does not befit our time of life; many young people would suppose that Eleazar at the age of ninety had conformed to the foreigners' way of life
and, because I had played this part for the sake of a paltry brief spell of life, might themselves be led astray on my account; I should only bring defilement and disgrace on my old age.
Even though for the moment I avoid execution by man, I can never, living or dead, elude the grasp of the Almighty.
Therefore if I am man enough to quit this life here and now, I shall prove myself worthy of my old age,
and I shall have left the young a noble example of how to make a good death, eagerly and generously, for the venerable and holy laws.' So saying, he walked straight to the wheel,
while those who were escorting him, recently so well disposed towards him, turned against him after this declaration, which they regarded as sheer madness.
He for his part, just before he died under the blows, gave a sigh and said, 'The Lord whose knowledge is holy sees clearly that, though I might have escaped death, from awe of him I gladly endure these agonies of body under the lash, and that in my soul I am glad to suffer.'
This was how he died, leaving his death as an example of nobility and a record of virtue not only for the young but for the greater part of the nation.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Eleazar was an old scribe, a man faithful to the Law of the Lord. For this reason, breaking the rule against eating pork, which was prescribed in the code of purity, as Leviticus notes, means he had to distance himself from his faith to subscribe to idolatrous practices. Rather than obey the order of the king to violate the Law, he prefers to die. And so he is inscribed into [or joins] the tribe of believer martyrs, those who love God more than their own lives. Some fathers of the Church have seen Eleazar as an early martyr, coming before the advent of Christ, a little like Stephen was for the Christian martyrs. Even in the Letter to the Hebrews, when all the acts of faith of the ancestors are listed, Eleazar is alluded to using a term that goes back to today’s reading: "others were then tortured" (Heb 11: 35). This is a long line which passes through the centuries and which in our times has become particularly prolific. Eleazar shows in his defence his conviction of desiring death in a way that is dignified for his age, leaving the youth an example: "Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example" (v. 27). From his words we see a certain fidelity to the law but above all to the Lord to whom "neither alive nor dead" can he escape. While he groans in torture he turns to God "in his holy knowledge" (v. 30), to God who knows everything and who is faithful to those who love him. Whoever does not reason according to God cannot understand what Eleazar is living and witnessing: "Those who a little before had acted towards him with goodwill now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness" (v.29) We should not forget that a bit of heroism (in this sense, folly) is exactly part of the radicalism of the Christian faith, already evident in the biblical tradition.
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
