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Memory of the apostles
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Memory of the apostles

Memorial of the apostles Simon the Canaanite, called the Zealot, and Judas surnamed Thaddeus. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the apostles
Monday, October 28

Memorial of the apostles Simon the Canaanite, called the Zealot, and Judas surnamed Thaddeus.


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

Luke 6,12-19

Now it happened in those days that he went onto the mountain to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them 'apostles': Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor. He then came down with them and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples, with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.

 

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 remembers the apostles Simon and Judas. Simon is nicknamed the 'zealot' perhaps because he belonged to the anti-Roman group of zealots who also practised violence. Tradition has it that he preached the gospel in Samaria, Mesopotamia and died in Persia. Judas, also called Thaddeus which means 'magnanimous', is the apostle who at the Last Supper asked Jesus to manifest himself only to the disciples and not to the world. His name appears in last place in the list of apostles. Tradition indicates him as the author of the letter of the same name addressed to converts from Judaism. Almost nothing is known about their lives. But this does not make them any less important than the others. In the Church it is not notoriety that counts, but communion with the Lord and with one's brothers and sisters. The Gospel passage emphasises not the diversity of their tasks, but the crucial fact that they are all beside Jesus. It sounds completely out of place to seek out who among them is first. Unfortunately, it also happens frequently in the Christian community. The first place is not sought in serving, so much as in appearing or being the protagonist. The primacy to be sought is rather that of love, of generous, selfless service. The evangelist emphasises the list of names. Jesus calls everyone by name, even Simon and Judas. It is his direct call - by name - that makes them disciples and then apostles, sent for the mission of the Gospel. From this common call also flows fraternity among them. That is why Jesus could say that it is from mutual love that others will recognise them as his disciples. The name, in the biblical mentality, is not only a useful tool to call us, it is much more: it signifies the history, the heart, the life of each one.

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!