Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Isaiah 1, 10.16-20
Hear what Yahweh says, you rulers of Sodom; listen to what our God teaches, you people of Gomorrah.
wash, make yourselves clean. Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease doing evil.
Learn to do good, search for justice, discipline the violent, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.
'Come, let us talk this over,' says Yahweh. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth.
But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall eat you instead -- for Yahweh's mouth has spoken.'
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
In this time of Lent, in harmony with the invitation to live this time in penance and conversion, the liturgy offers us this page from the prophet Isaiah. With the opening words of the prophet the heart of biblical faith is introduced: listening to the word of God. Isaiah speaks to political leaders, calling them "leaders of Gomorrah", and then the evil men, whom he calls "people of Gomorrah," who probably, gathered in the courtyard of the temple, are participating in the worship. Reference to the city of Gomorrah lays out in the words of the prophet the imminence of God's judgment on the people of Jerusalem. It warns all sternly: "Hear the word of the Lord ... listen to the teaching of our God" (v.10). The Lord does not turn to the people with generic words of exhortation. And neither can the people stand before God in a superficial and ritualistic way. There is responsibility in this relationship. In Scripture the Lord makes it repeatedly clear that he does not love a religious ritual that is detached from the pursuit of justice and love for the poor. The prophet reports God's thought: "remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes" (v.16). And immediately he adds: "Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow" (v.17). This is the way to worship God. It is saying that there can be no division between the liturgical worship of the altar in the temple (and churches) and the worship of justice and closeness to the poor. They are two inseparable religions. And whoever practices them enters into that infinite mercy which saves us from any sin. In fact, the Lord says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow" (v.18). It is the victory of God's love over every sin, as long as we let him embrace us, as long as we let him love and instruct us: "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" (v. 19). Lent is the appropriate time to let ourselves be loved and purified by the Lord
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
