EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Poor
Word of god every day

Memory of the Poor

In Israel today us the Memorial of the Shoah, in which the massacre of the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps is remembered. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Poor
Monday, April 27

In Israel today us the Memorial of the Shoah, in which the massacre of the Jewish people in the Nazi concentration camps is remembered.


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 10, 1-10

'In all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit.

He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock;

the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.

When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice.

They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognise the voice of strangers.'

Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold.

All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them.

I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In this Gospel passage, Jesus is presented as the “good shepherd” who gathers the scattered sheep and leads them on the path of God. If the image is ancient, its truth is as timely as ever. Perhaps never before have men and women lived in a state of such dispersal and loneliness as today. Individualism, nestled in every human heart, now seems even stronger than it did yesterday: society has become more competitive, more aggressive, and therefore more cruel. The drive to separation is stronger than that towards solidarity: individuals and peoples feel their own interests above everything and everyone. Distances and conflicts grow larger and larger. The dream of equality is even considered dangerous. Not having to depend on anybody and not being swayed or influenced by anyone are exalted as values. In this climate, “thieves” and “robbers” grow and multiply, i.e. those who steal the lives of others for personal gain. Even human life has become a commodity to be sold and to steal. The dictatorship of the market does not spare anyone. And the most vulnerable are the hardest hit and abused. Globalization certainly has made peoples closer; however, it has not necessarily made them brothers. There is need of a “good shepherd” who knows his sheep and saves them, one by one, leading them all in pastures so that they may feed enough. Too many instead are “thieves” and “robbers” who continue to steal other people’s lives, especially those of children, the elderly, and the helpless. And we are many of us risking becoming their accomplices. In fact, every time we shut ourselves up in our self-centeredness, not only do we ourselves become their prey, but we also become accomplices of their robberies. Not surprisingly, Pope Francis stigmatized the globalization of indifference, the absence of weeping for those who die abandoned. And St. Ambrose rightly noted, “Those who reject the only one Lord end up having many owners.” Jesus, the good shepherd, gathers us from dispersion to guide us towards a common destiny, and, if needed, he goes personally to fetch the one who is lost to bring him or her back into the fold. To do this, Jesus is not afraid of passing, if necessary, through death, being sure that the Father gives life to those who spend it generously for others. This is the miracle of Easter. The risen Jesus is the door that has opened so that we may enter into the life that never ends. Jesus does not rob us of life; on the contrary, he gives it to us in abundance, multiplied for eternity.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR