Remembrance of Mary, Mother of Jesus, sorrowful at the foot of the cross, and of all those who live the compassion with those who are crucified, alone and condemned. Többet
Remembrance of Mary, Mother of Jesus, sorrowful at the foot of the cross, and of all those who live the compassion with those who are crucified, alone and condemned.
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
John 19,25-27
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son.' Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Right after the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the Church celebrates the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Sorrows. The Gospel of John, in a few lines, tells the extraordinary mystery of Mary's presence. She grieves deeply in her heart for her son's death, and while remaining next to him, she receives from him a new mission. Perhaps in those hours Mary remembered her encounter with Simeon. Now she fully understood what the elderly man said to her: "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-and a sword will pierce your own soul too" (Lk 2:33-35). The Passion of Jesus, marked by violence and betrayal to the cross, had already the bud of the risen life. From the cross, in fact, Jesus does not ask for consolation for himself, as we would have done for ourselves, nor does he invoke compassion for himself. He takes care of his mother and the young disciple whom he loved. In the disciple, we can see the face of each one of us. Jesus entrusts us all to his mother, Mary, the Church, the community of believers. And, vice versa, he entrusts to Mary each of us. We are not abandoned to a society that cares little for its children. Jesus asks Mary to be our Mother. He entrusts her with a task, a mission, to be the mother of all. The ancient Christians used to say that one can never say enough about Mary, about this mother. And in a certain sense it is very true: Mary is the first of believers, the first to have a heart like that of her Son. And the many images of Our Lady of Sorrows spread among the great people of believers show not only the need we all have for a mother, but above all that we have found her, or rather that she has been given to us. It is up to us to welcome her.
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!
