Memorial of Saint Jerome, doctor of the Church, who died in Bethlehem in 420. He translated the Bible into the Latin language. Prayer that the voice of the Scripture may be heard in every language. Read more
Memorial of Saint Jerome, doctor of the Church, who died in Bethlehem in 420. He translated the Bible into the Latin language. Prayer that the voice of the Scripture may be heard in every language.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 10,1-12
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting. And he said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting. Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!" And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you." But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, "We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near." I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This Gospel passage reports the second missionary discourse of Jesus reported in the Gospel of Luke. If the first was directed to the Twelve (9:1-6), as if to gather the whole Israel, now the reason is the mission of the seventy-two disciples whose number (see. Genesis 10) symbolizes all the peoples of the earth. Luke places it at the beginning of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. The universality of preaching is not a further addition to the Gospel message, it is an integral part of the mission that Jesus entrusts to his disciples from the beginning. He himself, in fact, notes that "the harvest is abundant," large, and the workers are few. There is a disproportion between the enormous work of evangelizing the world and the small number of disciples. And Jesus is well aware of this. However, the problem is not only in terms of the number of workers, but also in terms of their quality. In fact, Jesus urges the disciples to pray not only for the Father to send workers but also for their work to be successful. "I send you as lambs among wolves." The communication of the Gospel also involves a struggle. The image of the lambs and wolves emphasizes the mode of mission. It is not characterized by a spirit of violence and imposition but by the meekness and humility of the lambs. We could say that meekness itself is not a way of communicating but is the substance of the Gospel. With the strength of meekness we defeat the weakness of violence. The equipment of the disciple consists only of the Gospel. There is no need for a purse, bag, or sandals. And they are sent everywhere to communicate the Gospel. There is a beautiful notation of Gregory the Great about sending the disciples "two by two." Jesus sent the disciples two by two so that their first preaching would be love for each other. Love, in fact, is the strength of the disciples, those of yesterday and those of today. The love of the Lord is strong and overcomes the "wolves" of this world.
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
