Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 24,35-48
Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread. They were still talking about all this when he himself stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you!' In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said, 'Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts stirring in your hearts? See by my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.' And as he said this he showed them his hands and his feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, as they were dumbfounded; so he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?' And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes. Then he told them, 'This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms, was destined to be fulfilled.' He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, 'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Christ is risen from the dead
and will die no more.
He awaits us in Galilee!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel reading of today’s Mass brings us to the end of the day of Easter. The two disciples on the way to Emmaus had just arrived at the upper room to tell the disciples about “what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” The apostles, still afraid, had remained locked up in that room. It was certainly a place full of memories, but it risked remaining a closed and protective place. We are all familiar with their fear: how often do we close the doors of our hearts, our homes, our groups, the community, and our families to get some peace and quiet or out of our fear of losing something? Yet, the Risen One continues to be with us; in fact, he puts himself at the centre, not to the side like just one person among others, like one word among others. He enters and comes to the centre as a Word that saves. And his first words after the resurrection are a greeting of peace: “Peace be with you!” The disciples, gripped by fear and resignation, take him for a ghost. They had heard the women’s proclamation, but their distance from Jesus during the days of his Passion had fogged their minds and hardened their hearts. The evangelist seems to suggest that disbelief takes hold of the disciples every time they distance themselves from Jesus and allow themselves to be overcome by fear. But Jesus immediately says: “Peace be with you!” These are the Risen One’s first words, as if to say that peace is the first fruit of the resurrection. Yet, it is not the peace of personal serenity, but the peace that comes from loving others. Yes, the peace of Easter makes us go out of ourselves to meet others. Easter peace is a new energy of love, which lays siege to the world. This seems impossible to the apostles. Jesus is truly dead; his word has been killed forever. Even though he had told them many times that he would rise again after he died, they do not believe him. They are frightened to see him. They think they are seeing a ghost. But Jesus lovingly reproaches them: “Why are you frightened?” And he repeats what he had said so frequently in the past: he would be put to death and he would rise. How often do we too not believe Jesus’ words, and when they are repeated to us, we think they are unrealistic, like a ghost! The Gospel creates a new reality, a new community, one that is real, made up of people who previously were scattered and fearful and, who, after hearing the Gospel, find themselves together in a new brotherhood. That is what happened that day when Jesus began to eat with them: life continued as it had in the years before Easter. That meal was a continuation of the ones that had taken place with Jesus. And so it is for us, too, each time we gather together around the Lord’s altar to break his body.
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
