Remembrance of Modesta, a homeless woman who was refused medical assistance because she was dirty and was left to die in the Termini train station in Rome in 1983. Along with her we remember all those who die in the streets without a home and succour. Read more
Remembrance of Modesta, a homeless woman who was refused medical assistance because she was dirty and was left to die in the Termini train station in Rome in 1983. Along with her we remember all those who die in the streets without a home and succour.
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
Mark 6,1-6
Leaving that district, he went to his home town, and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, 'Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?' And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is despised only in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house'; and he could work no miracle there, except that he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. He made a tour round the villages, teaching.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus returns to his "homeland" after being away a considerable amount of time. By now his fame has spread well beyond Galilee and has even reached Jerusalem. When he re-enters the synagogue where for years he had listened to the Scriptures and prayed to the Lord God, his fellow citizens turn out in mass to hear him. All are amazed by what their fellow citizen, whom they think they know so well, has to say. And as is appropriate for opening the path toward faith, they ask themselves: "Where did this man get all this?" Unfortunately, the inhabitants of Nazareth are stuck by the familiar and usual appearance of his presence. They think that a prophet ought to have extraordinary and prodigious traits. Instead, Jesus appears normal to them as an ordinary man. He is of modest means. "Is this not the carpenter?" they ask themselves. Carpentry was not a trade of particular repute. Jesus' family was truly normal, neither rich nor indigent. They seem not to enjoy any particular esteem from the citizens of Nazareth. The Nazarenes see absolutely nothing in Jesus that could make him better than them. They recognize his noted wisdom and ability to perform miracles, but they cannot accept that he could speak with authority about their lives and their behaviour. Their wonder quickly turns to scandal: that someone they thought they knew so well could ask them to change their live and their heart. That was something they could not accept. And yet this is exactly the logic of faith: to accept the authority of the Gospel over one's life. Those we assume the same attitude as the inhabitants of Nazareth obstruct the Lord's work. Mark writes that Jesus "could do no deed of power there." Not that he did not want to, but that he could not. A miracle is God's response to those who extend their hand and ask for help. Not one of them extended their hand; rather, they all made demands. The way to encounter the Lord is to let oneself be met by him.
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
