The prayer for unity of Christians begins. Particular memory of the Catholic Church. Read more
The prayer for unity of Christians begins. Particular memory of the Catholic Church.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Psalm 110, 1-4
1 The Lord says to my lord,
Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.’
2 The Lord sends out from Zion
your mighty sceptre.
Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly
on the day you lead your forces
on the holy mountains.
From the womb of the morning,
like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,
You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.’
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The liturgy again has us pray with psalm 110. As we saw two days ago, it is the most cited psalm in the New Testament. Jesus himself knew it well, seeing that he cited this psalm when he answered the high priest who asked him about his identity. In his sermon, the apostle Peter explained the mystery of Jesus with images taken from this psalm: “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ’The Lord said to my Lord Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (Acts 2:32-35). With these words, Peter seems to be describing Jesus’ work from that moment on. The resurrection of Jesus is interpreted as the ascension of Jesus to the “right hand of God” to assume all power, defeating evil, making it “his footstool” and ushering in the kingdom of heaven. This is the conclusion of Peter’s sermon: “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36). Listening to these words and the imagery of the psalm, we are reminded of the mosaic in the apse of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which seems to offer a commentary on the psalm’s imagery. At the centre of the apse, the artist has placed the royal throne. Jesus, with Mary at his right hand, is seated upon it, whereas Peter and the other saints are nearby but not on the throne. This scene is full of symbolic significance: Jesus, who is at the centre of the apse (the throne is slightly broadened to the right), placed Mary at his right hand. Mary, in turn, holds in her right hand a scroll with a citation from this psalm. Mary symbolizes the Church, the community of believers. We could say that Jesus does with Mary (the Church) what the Father had done with the Son: he places her at his right hand. And Jesus embraces her tenderly. In that image of Jesus embracing Mary and placing her on his own throne, we can see the mission of the new people of God; It is “royal,” as the psalm says about the king, but also “priestly,” as we read in the psalm, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (v. 4). The Church, the body of Christ, is the new people to whom the Lord entrusts his mission. Although the Church is still on earth, in some ways it is already in heaven. It has been given the task of being the prophet of the new kingdom of love and peace. It has also been given royal power to change hearts and the history of the world, and priestly power to intercede and to make offerings to God for the entire world, until death is defeated and everything is brought to fulfilment in Christ Jesus.
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
