Feast of Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist. Read more
Feast of Saint Matthew, apostle and evangelist.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 9,9-13
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If we die with him, we shall live with him,
if with him we endure, with him we shall reign.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today the Church celebrates Matthew, apostle and evangelist. In the Jewish language his name was Levi, and his profession, tax collector, was considered dishonourable because he collected taxes for the dominant foreign power. They were called "publicans" and pointed to common scorn as betrayers and cheaters. Jesus was walking by in Capernaum (A border city where taxes were paid), and saw Matthew, and, instead of passing by spitefully like everyone else, he stopped nearby him while Levi is busy collecting dues. And Jesus called him: "Follow me," One word is enough and Matthew "got up and followed him" as he himself modestly tells the story. For Jesus no one, whatever his or her condition, even an ill-famed one like Matthew's, is excluded from his call. For Jesus it is not the situation that counts, but whether one welcomes the Gospel into one's heart. This is exactly what the tax collector Matthew did. And at that moment his life changed. Up until then he had thought about accumulating for himself. Matthew was so happy at being welcomed to follow that teacher that he immediately planned a dinner with Jesus and invited his friends, tax collectors and sinners. It was a strange banquet that nonetheless prefigured the alliance between Christians and the poor for whom Jesus lived and preached. From that moment on, Matthew did not sit collecting taxes anymore; he became a disciple and gathered sinners to celebrate around Jesus. The world does not understand what is happening, but this is the innovation of the Gospel that is disconcerting to the majority of people: everyone's heart, with no exceptions, can be touched and everyone can change his or her life, starting from sinners. Jesus clarifies this to those who did and do not want to understand: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."
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
