Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Orthodox Churches celebrate Pentecost
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Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Orthodox Churches celebrate Pentecost
First Reading
Job 38,1.8-11
Then from the heart of the tempest Yahweh gave Job his answer. He said: Who pent up the sea behind closed doors when it leapt tumultuous from the womb, when I wrapped it in a robe of mist and made black clouds its swaddling bands; when I cut out the place I had decreed for it and imposed gates and a bolt? 'Come so far,' I said, 'and no further; here your proud waves must break!'
Second Reading
2 Corinthians 5,14-17
For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died; his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life. From now onwards, then, we will not consider anyone by human standards: even if we were once familiar with Christ according to human standards, we do not know him in that way any longer. So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.
Reading of the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 4,35-41
With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side.' And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, 'Master, do you not care? We are lost!' And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Quiet now! Be calm!' And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm. Then he said to them, 'Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?' They were overcome with awe and said to one another, 'Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Homily
"Do you not care that we perish?" It is certainly a cry of despair, but it also reveals the trust they have in that master. It is easy to discern in that cry the countless cries rising from this world of ours that is tossed about by waves of all kinds that endanger men and women especially from the poorest countries, such as those torn apart by wars and conflicts. We too may think that Jesus is asleep as the events of the world continue to the point of even greater tragedies. The Gospel wants to tell us that Jesus does not abandon us and is still with us, even when we are in the storm. Of course, we may think he is asleep. We would certainly like a life without storms, without problems, without any fear. But life is also a struggle against evil, against the storms that want to prevent us from reaching the shore of peace. Jesus' slumber indicates his total trust in the Father who, he knows, will not abandon anyone. Rather he is waiting for our prayer, for our cry for help. Prayer starts from a cry for help, even personal, but not only. There is a ministry of intercession that we need to rediscover: Christinas are called to pray for all.
At the cry of the disciples Jesus wakes up, stands up straight on the boat, and threatens the wind and the raging sea. Immediately the wind is silent and the sea becomes calm. God overcomes the hostile powers that do not allow the crossing, that is prevent us from reaching the shore of fraternity, of justice and of peace. The episode ends with a unique detail. The disciples are taken by a great fear, and they say to one another, "Who then is this?" Mark's text speaks of fear rather than wonder. It is the holy fear of being in the presence of God. Yes, it is the fear of those who feel small and poor in front of the saviour of life; the fear of those who are weak and sinful, and yet know they are welcomed by Him whom they have offended and who surpasses them in love; the fear of not knowing how to take advantage of the closeness of God in our daily lives; the fear of dispersing the "dream" of a new world that Jesus has begun in us and with us. This fear makes us realize that we are already on the other side.
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
