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
Luke 11,42-46
But alas for you Pharisees, because you pay your tithe of mint and rue and all sorts of garden herbs and neglect justice and the love of God! These you should have practised, without neglecting the others. Alas for you Pharisees, because you like to take the seats of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted respectfully in the market squares! Alas for you, because you are like the unmarked tombs that people walk on without knowing it!' A lawyer then spoke up. 'Master,' he said, 'when you speak like this you insult us too.' But he said, 'Alas for you lawyers as well, because you load on people burdens that are unendurable, burdens that you yourselves do not touch with your fingertips.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Upon hearing Jesus' harsh words against Pharisaic ritualism, a lawyer responds that he is also offending him and all his colleagues. It is the reaction of someone who does not feel at all the need to change and to understand more deeply what Jesus' preaching is asking. They are content with the observation of the letter and exterior practices without grasping the substance and spirit of the alliance that God and Israel had established. Later the apostle Paul will write to the Corinthians: "For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor 3:6). The Word of God, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes, is like a double-edged sword that cuts to the marrow and does not leave us indifferent. It does not bless our human behaviour without altering it, and it does not enter our hearts without cutting away everything that hinders it, or worse, leads us to ruin. The Word is a saving and good force that changes our heart. Jesus unmasks the sin of the Pharisees and scribes. Even though they are respected by the people, who look at them for guidance and direction, in reality their behaviour is false and misleading. This is why Jesus' judges them so severely. People seek help and guidance from those who "appear" to be guides, but instead they neglect what is essential, that is the justice and love of God. It is true that they pay their tithes to the temple and let themselves be charmed by the honour they receive in the synagogue, but in fact they are like "graves", that is, empty people who are dead inside. With cold severity, they put heavy burdens on the shoulders of others, but they neither want nor are able to bear them. This falsehood, this deceitful and duplicitous behaviour, are severely stigmatized by Jesus. The three "woes" addressed to the Pharisees are a warning for us all when sometimes we set ourselves up as merciless judges, small masters without scruples or second thoughts, who take advantage of the good faith of those who are looking for brothers and sisters they can trust as they try to grow spiritually. Mercy is the limitless measure that the Lord asks from all of his disciples.
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
