EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memorial of Saint Peter Damian (†1072). Faithful to his monastic vocation, he loved the entire Church and spent his life reforming it. Memory of the monks in every part of the world. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, February 21

Memorial of Saint Peter Damian (†1072). Faithful to his monastic vocation, he loved the entire Church and spent his life reforming it. Memory of the monks in every part of the world.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Psalm 37, 3-4.18-19.27-28.39-40

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
  so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.

4 Take delight in the Lord,
  and he will give you the desires of your heart.

18 The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
  and their heritage will abide for ever;

19 they are not put to shame in evil times,
  in the days of famine they have abundance.

27 Depart from evil, and do good;
  so you shall abide for ever.

28 For the Lord loves justice;
  he will not forsake his faithful ones.
  The righteous shall be kept safe for ever,
  but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
  he is their refuge in the time of trouble.

40 The Lord helps them and rescues them;
  he rescues them from the wicked, and saves them,
  because they take refuge in him.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The words of this psalm come out of the context of the community of the “righteous,” the “faithful ones” and the “poor” who “wait for the Lord.” With this prayer, the psalmist is trying to curb the impatience of those who are disappointed when they see the prosperity of the wicked, while the righteous are put to the test. We are all very familiar with the objection that even often appears in Scripture: why do the righteous and just suffer and the wicked prosper? And it is worth remembering that in our time in many parts of the world a kind of religion is spreading that makes material prosperity the goal of life. And there are many, especially the poor, who fall into this diabolic trap disguised as religion. In professing his steadfast faith in a just and rewarding God, the psalmist recalls God’s absolute primacy. He affirms that a life lived under God’s eyes is in and of itself a good worth more than all the afflictions that the righteous experience on earth and always preferable to the ephemeral and treacherous lives of the wicked. Believers should not envy the evildoer, the life he leads, the success he obtains, or the riches that he amasses. Believers who envy the wicked think as the wicked do: they think that the meaning of life is to accumulate wealth and possessions and not to love God, his people, and the poor. The hearts of believers are directed towards God and the poor, not possessions and success. Jesus will clearly say, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). The “righteous” person is called to radically change the way he or she looks at the world and the things it contains; he or she should “take delight in the Lord,” (v. 4) knowing that “better is the little that the righteous person has than the abundance of many wicked (v. 16). Being envious of the wicked means having a wicked person’s heart. Indeed, the righteous person should not even get angry at the wicked, “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Do no fret - it leads only to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land” (v. 7-9). Fortune and wealth are treacherous and all that is built on them easily falls. The psalmist reminds us that the enemies of the Lord will fade “like the glory of the pastures…like smoke they will vanish away.” The wicked person vanishes, and those who look for their place will not find them. The Lord will indeed do justice, but in a way that is different from our habits and convictions. Those who follow the Lord need to let their heart be purified by God’s thoughts and his limitless love. This is why the righteous person will not fret nor give in to envy: “Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers” (v. 1).

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