Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Memorial of the Saints Addai and Mari, founders of the Chaldean church. Prayer for Christians in Iraq.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Acts 16,22-34
The crowd joined in and showed its hostility to them, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged. They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the gaoler was told to keep a close watch on them. So, following such instructions, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. In the middle of the night Paul and Silas were praying and singing God's praises, while the other prisoners listened. Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains fell from all the prisoners. When the gaoler woke and saw the doors wide open he drew his sword and was about to commit suicide, presuming that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, 'Do yourself no harm; we are all here.' He called for lights, then rushed in, threw himself trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas, and escorted them out, saying, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They told him, 'Become a believer in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and your household too.' Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all his household. Late as it was, he took them to wash their wounds, and was baptised then and there with all his household. Afterwards he took them into his house and gave them a meal, and the whole household celebrated their conversion to belief in God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
In the early days of Christianity, imprisonment is a recurrent realty. Every time the enemies of the Gospel want to silence the message of Christianity, they put Jesus' disciples in prison. We could say that there is a strange closeness between the Gospel and prison. Perhaps this is the reason Matthew emphasizes the obligation for everyone, not just disciples, to visit prisoners. For Christians, imprisonment was a frequent experience in the first decades of the life of their community. But the same has also been true more recently, on a massive scale, in gulags and concentration camps under the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. It is therefore even more meaningful in our time for Christians to work to bring consolation to those in prisons, particularly in those where life has been reduced to inhuman conditions. Paul and Silas had not only shaken the walls and the chains, they had shaken the heart of the jailor and his entire family, to the point of converting them to the Gospel. Love even changes things that seem impossible. Every time we put the Gospel in practice we witness miracles that would have been unimaginable before. This event, which regards the introduction of the Gospel into Europe, retraces what had happened to Jesus, as if to say that the Gospel always encounters opposition but still bears liberating fruit. In this sense Christianity always requires a struggle, which is first of all an inner struggle that starts in the heart of each person. It is in the change of heart that starts that of the world. In the heart the first struggle between the Gospel and pride, between the love for oneself and for others, occurs. And here the transformation of the world begins. Every time we let the Gospel win in our heart, it has a positive effect on those who are around us. The experience of Paul and Silas with their jailor and his family can be the experience of each one of us.