Memorial of Shabbaz Bhatti, Minister of Minorities in Pakistan, a Christian, killed by terrorists because of his commitment in the search of pace and dialogue in 2011. Read more
Memorial of Shabbaz Bhatti, Minister of Minorities in Pakistan, a Christian, killed by terrorists because of his commitment in the search of pace and dialogue in 2011.
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
This passage from Luke’s Gospel, together with the one from Deuteronomy, (30:15-20) the first reading of today’s Mass, set us on the path of this Lenten season. The passage from Deuteronomy, which contains part of Moses’ third speech to the people of Israel, sets us before two paths, the path of good and the path of evil. The Lord has great respect for our liberty. He does not force us to do good, he proposes it to us, because goodness can only be the fruit of love. And he says to us: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” Yes, life means loving, while death means following evil. In fact, if we stray from God and His commandments, he warns us, “I declare to you today that you shall perish.” During this season it is good to reflect on the responsibility that confronts each one of us: the choice between the good path and the evil path. In the Gospel passage we just heard, Jesus himself returns to this theme. He says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” We all naturally try to think about ourselves, to save ourselves from every difficulty, every problem, and every source of anxiety. Above all we think about ourselves and our self-affirmation. The evil instinct of self-love is rooted in the heart of every man and woman. This instinct, which pushes us to think only of ourselves, is accompanied by a lack of interest in others and often even by hostility towards them, especially if we think of them as potential enemies. Jesus warns, “What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” The thirst for profit at all costs is like a fever that never leaves us. It is like a constant fever that brings us to ruin. How many lives are sacrificed on the altar of profit! How many families and relationships are burned so that profit can be the most important thing! Jesus teaches us another way. And he does not teach with words, but by his example. He is going to Jerusalem to save us, to love us, even if this choice also brings suffering and death. But on “the third day” he will rise to a new and full life. Jesus is not the powerful and strong Messiah that the people would like him to be. He came to give his life in ransom for all. His strength is not human strength, but the strength of a love that knows no limits, not even self-love. And he explains the consequences of following the Gospel to all those who are following him: leaving behind selfishness, renouncing self-love, abandoning the same old selfish habits and living like Jesus, that is, not living for ourselves, but for the Lord and other people. This is the meaning of his words: deny oneself and take up the cross. That is the path to true profit. Those who want to save their lives, that is, their habits and their selfish traditions, will lose them. Salvation does not consist in having many things, but in having a wide heart that is 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
