Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Mark 12,28-34
One of the scribes who had listened to them debating appreciated that Jesus had given a good answer and put a further question to him, 'Which is the first of all the commandments?' Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.' The scribe said to him, 'Well spoken, Master; what you have said is true, that he is one and there is no other. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.' Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' And after that no one dared to question him any more.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
This passage from Mark's Gospel is situated within the context of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem. Amid the growing threat of the hostility of the leaders of the people comes a sincere request made by a scribe who turns to Jesus and asks, "Which commandment is the first of all?" In general scribes were very knowledgeable of the Law. This time the scribe came up to the Teacher not to put him to the test, but to learn a teaching from him that he considered important for his life. He was a wise scribe for no one can teach to oneself. We all need to ask the Lord the true meaning of Scripture for our lives. Unfortunately, we easily forget to listen to Scripture or to gather in prayer, thinking we already know what to do and how to live. But when we do that, we become victims of the sin of self-sufficiency. We think we can do without God and his word. Today this scribe stands before us and speaks to Jesus on our behalf, too. Let us ask Jesus, "Teacher, what is the heart of the Gospel?" And Jesus tells us too that the "first commandment" is twofold: love God and love our neighbour. These two loves cannot be separated. Indeed, they form one love, one thing. The apostle John writes, "Those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). Jesus, who loved God above everything else, more than his own life, and who equally loved men and women above everything, more than his own life, offers us the highest example of observing the "first" commandment. Which, in fact, is the only commandment. It is true that the double commandment is preceded by an invitation, which is its introduction: "The first is, Hear, O Israel!'" Once again, we see before us what we have been reading about over the past few days, which is constantly proposed to us during the Lenten season: the necessity of listening to God who speaks to us. Those who do not listen to him will only hear their own noise and will not be able to fully live out the commandment of love. Only those who listen to the Gospel, as Mary did, will be able to live out in full the strength of faith. Satisfied with Jesus' answer, that scribe hears that he is not far from the kingdom of God. We have much more than that scribe. Let us at least learn from him how to be willing to ask and how to be ready to answer.
Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).
Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.
Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.
De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).
Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.
