The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
Memorial of Saint John Damascene (+749), priest and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century; he distributed his goods to the poor and joined the laura of St. Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria.
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The prayer for peace is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
Memorial of Saint John Damascene (+749), priest and Doctor of the Church who lived in Damascus in the eighth century; he distributed his goods to the poor and joined the laura of St. Sabbas nearby Jerusalem. Prayer for Christians in Syria.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 8,5-11
When he went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. 'Sir,' he said, 'my servant is lying at home paralysed and in great pain.' Jesus said to him, 'I will come myself and cure him.' The centurion replied, 'Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, 'In truth I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found faith as great as this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of Heaven;
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This centurion who leaves his house to go to Jesus and ask for healing is the person of Advent. He is not resigned to his servant's illness. He was not a believing Jew and furthermore he was an occupying military. All of these reasons were more than sufficient to keep him from turning to a Jewish teacher for help. But his serious concern for his sick servant leads him to go out and find Jesus. He heard that Jesus is a good man and that if he just puts a little of his heart into those good hands his request will be answered. Jesus reads the centurion's concern, and he is moved too. He goes beyond the centurion's request and says that he will go and heal the servant. The centurion realizes that he is standing in front of an extraordinary man and understands his own poverty and smallness. He insists that he is not worthy to have Jesus come to him. Maybe he knew that for Jews visiting the houses of pagans could be considered a contamination and did not want to embarrass Jesus. He does not doubt Jesus' goodness, however, and he speaks the splendid words that the liturgy continues to put on our lips: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed." Jesus praises the centurion's extraordinary faith. He is a pagan, and yet he has great faith. Indeed, faith does not mean belonging to a group, but trusting Jesus with one's heart. Faith is believing that Jesus' words change life and hearts. And his sick servant was healed "in that hour," the evangelist notes, to show the immediate effect of the power of Jesus' words. When we read attentively this Gospel page, we see that also the centurion was healed: in meeting Jesus, he discovered how unworthy he was, but also, he trusted Jesus and his love.
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
