Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (+1226).
Remembrance of the dedication of the Primavalle "chapel"; the first place of prayer of the community of Sant'Egidio in the outskirts of Rome. On October 4, 1992, the peace treaty that put an end to the war in Mozambique was signed in Rome. Prayer for all those who work for peace.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

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

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, in memory of his death on the night of October 3, 1226. In him the Gospel became a leaven of universal fraternity. The Gospel passage that the liturgy offers us on this feast day reports a prayer in which Jesus thanks the Father for bending down to the little ones, revealing to them his mystery of his saving love: This mystery, which has lain hidden for ages, and which not even the wise could understand if God himself did not reveal it: God so loved the world that He sent His Son to save men and women from the power of evil and death. It was God's gracious will to save humanity by starting with the smallest and weakest. "This privilege of the poor" is a constant in the Bible and still a reality in the life of Jesus' disciples. Pope Francis constantly reminds of this with his example. That is precisely why he chose the name of the saint from Assisi who with his example urges us to join the ranks of the little ones who have welcomed and lived out this love. Saint Francis is part of the long line of witnesses that runs like a red thread through twenty centuries of Christian history: God's preference for the poor and the weak. This is where God starts saving the world. Francis retraced the ancient story of Jesus' disciples: despite being simple, scorned men, they were chosen by Jesus to be apostles of the kingdom. Through these disciples Jesus is still speaking to the tired crowds of our world: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."