Memory of the Mother of the Lord

February 7, 1968 commemorates the beginning of the Community of Sant'Egidio. A group of students from a Roman high school started gathering around the Gospel and loving the poor. Thanksgiving to the Lord for the gift of the Community.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 11,25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 'Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Today we remember the anniversary of the Community of Sant'Egidio. Exactly 55 years passed since its beginning. The first words from our mouths to the Lord today are words of thanks for this precious gift which the Holy Spirit has given to the Church and the world. The Gospel suggests us that Jesus himself "blesses" the Father because the Gospel has once again been "revealed to the little ones." The community, which began by the initiative of a young high school student, Andrea Riccardi, was composed of "little ones" not only because they were very young high schoolers, but mostly because in the original intentions of the community there was, first of all, the awareness of being "children" of the Gospel, that is, "little ones" to whom the mystery of God has been revealed. In the heart of the community a simple and fundamental intuition always remains firm: live the Gospel without addition. It is from the continuous listening to the Gospel that the community is born and continues to be reborn. The story of Sant'Egidio therefore is a story of prayer, a story of listening, a story of friendship with God, with our brothers and sisters and with the poor. From this friendship flows every action of the community. Jesus' thank you is today the thank you of all of us: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants." And, it is exactly through these "little ones" that the Gospel has spread, as far as it regards the life of the Community, from Rome to the world, always uniting prayer and love for the poor. Wherever it is, the community seeks to live a globalization of love which combats borders and divisions and creates a great people of the poor and humble, allied in the effort to help each other follow the Lord. In the history of the Community, we experience the beauty and power of the Word of the Lord Jesus who says: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." What might seem like a weight and a burden is instead an experience of sweetness and joy. It is a happy Christianity in a time full of challenges and commitments, but the certainty of the sweetness of the Lord's help sustains us to live according to the way of the Gospel with trust and love.