Memorial of Don Lorenzo Milani (+1967), a Florentine priest, prior in Barbiana, where he was a teacher of the children and youth of the Popular School he founded.

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Genesis 16,1-12.15-16

Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian slave-girl called Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, 'Listen, now! Since Yahweh has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her.' And Abram took Sarai's advice. Thus, after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years, Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian slave-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife. He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, 'This outrage done to me is your fault! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but, now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you!' 'Very well,' Abram said to Sarai, 'your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.' Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her. The angel of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur. He said, 'Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 'I am running away from my mistress Sarai,' she replied. The angel of Yahweh said to her, 'Go back to your mistress and submit to her.' The angel of Yahweh further said to her, 'I shall make your descendants too numerous to be counted.' Then the angel of Yahweh said to her: Now, you have conceived and will bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress. A wild donkey of a man he will be, his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him, living his life in defiance of all his kinsmen. Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave his son borne by Hagar the name Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Bible does not hide the difficulties and problems of life. But God never abandons anyone, and his gaze goes also beyond our usual and predictable borders. We come across a story that contrasts two women, Sarah and Hagar, who are in some ways vying for the promise and the blessing God made to Abraham. ?God does not deny his protection from none of the two, and he certainly does not refuse it to the weak. He intervenes directly in this story both helping Sarah and blessing Hagar and her offspring. Hagar, humiliated by Sarah is desperate and flees. And yet in her abandonment, she can open up to God's vision and experience God's compassion. God sends his angel to console her and give her hope again. ?The Lord never abandons anyone who calls on him. ?The Psalmist sings, "If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up" (Ps 27:10). Hagar gives birth to a son and on the indication of the angel she calls him Ishmael that means "the Lord has given heed to your affliction." The Islamic tradition sees in this story of the birth of Ishmael, the son of the promise. The violent tension that appears today towards the Islamic world should not make us forget our common roots in Abraham. ?