Today the Armenian Church remembers Mets Yeghérn, the "Great Evil." It is the remembrance of the massacre during the First World War in which more than one million Armenians were killed. Read more
Today the Armenian Church remembers Mets Yeghérn, the "Great Evil." It is the remembrance of the massacre during the First World War in which more than one million Armenians were killed.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
John 6,60-69
After hearing it, many of his followers said, 'This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?' Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, 'Does this disturb you? What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before? 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 'But there are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believe and who was to betray him. He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.' After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more. Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?' Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Gospel passage that we heard concludes the great "sermon on bread" that Jesus gave in the synagogue at Capernaum. The entire text presented by the evangelist reveals a fundamental truth: Jesus "is" the bread, not the one who "has" the bread, as the crowds had thought after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Even the disciples feel that this affirmation of Jesus as the bread of life is excessive: "This teaching is difficult," they comment. In his words, they understand that "eating his flesh and drinking his blood" means to receive into themselves a love so great that it totally envelops their life. They cannot accept such a great and involving love. They would prefer to be free from any bond. It is the temptation of individualism that makes people close in their small horizon and think that they can save themselves by themselves. But loneliness is like a virus that is corroding our society in which the bonds that unite people fade and the conflicts and tensions that disaggregate grow. Jesus' speech is a radical contestation of an individual culture. How is it possible to accept a link like Jesus' who asks to be part of his very flesh? It seems better to abandon him. And this is what happened. The disciples would have accepted to link their lives to a close God, but to one who would not enter too much in their lives. Jesus, pained by the abandonment of so many disciples, turns to the Twelve and asks them: "Do you also wish to go away?" This is among the more dramatic moments in Jesus' life. Even if he risked to remain alone, he could not renege the Gospel. The love of the Gospel is exclusive. Peter, who maybe saw Jesus' passionate but also firm eyes, was touched; he opened his heart, spoke and said: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life." He did not say "where" will we go, but "to whom" will we go. The Lord Jesus is truly our one and only saviour.
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
