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 22, 1-19
It happened some time later that God put Abraham to the test. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he called. 'Here I am,' he replied.
God said, 'Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall point out to you.'
Early next morning Abraham saddled his donkey and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place which God had indicated to him.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Then Abraham said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there; we shall worship and then come back to you.'
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together.
Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. 'Father?' he said. 'Yes, my son,' he replied. 'Look,' he said, 'here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?'
Abraham replied, 'My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.' And the two of them went on together.
When they arrived at the place which God had indicated to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son and put him on the altar on top of the wood.
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.
But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven. 'Abraham, Abraham!' he said. 'Here I am,' he replied.
'Do not raise your hand against the boy,' the angel said. 'Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your own beloved son.'
Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
Abraham called this place 'Yahweh provides', and hence the saying today: 'On the mountain Yahweh provides.'
The angel of Yahweh called Abraham a second time from heaven.
'I swear by my own self, Yahweh declares, that because you have done this, because you have not refused me your own beloved son,
I will shower blessings on you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will gain possession of the gates of their enemies.
All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.'
Abraham went back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and Abraham settled in Beersheba.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
God once again calls Abraham by name, as he calls Moses on mount Horeb while he is tending his father-in-law’s sheep and Samuel after he had gone to sleep in the temple (1 Sam 3). Their “here I am” is the prompt reply of a person of faith who listens, does not stop to consider what is possible for him or what he can do, and does not insist that God give him all the answers right away. Abraham does not subordinate his answer to his will. Often we stop at the limits of what we think is fair, and if God’s request is not convenient or does not convince us, we do not even take it into consideration. Abraham obeys. He is truly a believer, even when he cannot understand God’s requests. He trusts, without conditions or reservations. His trust is founded on listening: he knows his weakness and he knows God’s greatness. This is why the angel says that he “fears” God. When we lose this fear, we feel we have the right to possess everything. He is certain that the divine call will never be for death, because God has promised him an inheritance. We could say that Abraham does not take possession of God’s gift, but listens to what is asked of him and puts it into practice, without conditions. Faith is not in us; it is the result of God’s faithfulness to humanity. And even now that the Lord is asking him to sacrifice his son, Abraham obeys. We could say that his faith is truly limitless. But Abraham knows that God’s love is limitless, and he will never be abandoned. This is why - we can imagine what he was feeling in his heart - he responds, “Here I am.” Abraham does not choose to guide his life himself; he lets himself be led by the voice of God. And Isaac is given back to him. He is no longer just the son of his flesh; he is also the son of his faith. Abraham discovers that Isaac is his own because he did not want to possess him. Truly God always “provides” good things for those who trust in him.
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
