Prayer for the sick
The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
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 8,18-22
When Jesus saw the crowd all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side. One of the scribes then came up and said to him, 'Master, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus said, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.' Another man, one of the disciples, said to him, 'Lord, let me go and bury my father first.' But Jesus said, 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Jesus lets himself be approached by our humanity, in order to change it. He is a true teacher, a friend who helps us to be different precisely because he loves us. A scribe approaches, respectfully addresses him with the title of "teacher," and reveals his readiness to follow him. This scribe seems to be like the seed that falls where there is no soil, that is, where there is no heart. Without roots the seed is quickly scorched by the sun of adversity and is lost, becoming just another illusion. Jesus wants the seed to bear fruit because without it our life stays barren. Jesus responds that following him means living like him, that is, having neither a house nor a place to rest one's head, because our entire life should be spent for others. Jesus did not come to earth to offer guarantees or security for himself or his followers. A Christian is not generated a child of God to close in a little and safe universe, but to go out till the ends of the hearth. Christians are always missionary, a person who goes out of him or herself to find his or her salvation. The disciple, even when, as the majority of us, has a permanent dwelling, is called to develop and cultivate passion and interest for the world and for the needs of the Church spread over all earth. Jesus' response to the disciple who asks to first go and bury his father before following him is equally radical. Jesus' answer is paradoxical. It is not a question of harshness or lack of piety, rather of the absolute priority of the choice for the Lord. Without leaving everything we do not understand the love of the Lord.