Remembrance of Modesta, a homeless woman refused medical assistance because she was dirty and was left to die in the Termini train station in Rome in 1983. Along with her we remember all those without a home and succour who have died. Lees meer
Remembrance of Modesta, a homeless woman refused medical assistance because she was dirty and was left to die in the Termini train station in Rome in 1983. Along with her we remember all those without a home and succour who have died.
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
2 Samuel 11,1-4.5-10.13-17
At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his guards and all Israel. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah-of-the-Ammonites. David, however, remained in Jerusalem. It happened towards evening when David had got up from resting and was strolling on the palace roof, that from the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David made enquiries about this woman and was told, 'Why, that is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.' David then sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him, and he lay with her, just after she had purified herself from her period. She then went home again. The woman conceived and sent word to David, 'I am pregnant.' David then sent word to Joab, 'Send me Uriah the Hittite,' whereupon Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah reached him, David asked how Joab was and how the army was and how the war was going. David then said to Uriah, 'Go down to your house and wash your feet.' Uriah left the palace and was followed by a present from the king's table. Uriah, however, slept at the palace gate with all his master's bodyguard and did not go down to his house. This was reported to David; 'Uriah', they said 'has not gone down to his house.' So David asked Uriah, 'Haven't you just arrived from the journey? Why didn't you go down to your house?' The next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk. In the evening, Uriah went out and bedded down with his master's bodyguard, but did not go down to his house. Next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. In the letter he wrote, 'Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest and then fall back, so that he gets wounded and killed.' Joab, then besieging the city, stationed Uriah at a point where he knew that there would be tough fighters. The people of the city sallied out and engaged Joab; there were casualties in the army, among David's guards, and Uriah the Hittite was killed as well.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The text tells of David's humiliating sin. His sin was not the result of a single act, but of a guilty chain of events that slipped lower and lower into the abyss of murder: temptation, giving in, adultery, betrayal of one of his bravest officers, cynicism, pretence and then the injustice perpetrated. These are the stages that show the boundless capacity of the human heart to commit evil if it is not vigilant and ready to break the chain of temptation. The tragic event begins with the king's desire to pass the spring in leisure, a time when kings usually go to war (v. 1). While he sends his army to combat the Ammonites, he remains in Jerusalem to enjoy his rest. This is the first stage of temptation. Choosing to think of his own satisfaction leads David to start down the path of sin. He stops to watch a woman taking a ritual bath (v. 3), it pleases him and then, blinded, he disregards everything in order to have her: God, who favoured him, his status as the anointed leader of his nation, and the evil that it will cause him and others. David, coming to know that Bathsheba is pregnant, tries to remedy what he has done at any cost. But his heart is hardened; he does not think of God or of others. He is moved only by the urgency to save himself from this difficult situation. And he puts his plan into action: to take her for his wife and send the husband, one of his oldest and most faithful friends, into battle to die. Never before has the Bible described so vividly the tragic reality of a man so afraid to take responsibility that he seeks to free himself of the weight that burdens him, giving no mind to committing further injustices that will harm innocent people in order to save himself. And David takes Bathsheba as his wife and she gives him a son. But, what David did displeased the Lord. He could hide the gravity of his crime from others, but not from God, who "looks on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).
Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).
Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.
Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.
De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).
Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.
