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
Psalm 119, 12.16.18.27.34-35
12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
teach me your statutes.
16 I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
18 Open my eyes, so that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Psalm 119, composed after the exile, is the longest psalm in the Psalter. It is an alphabetical psalm, which celebrates the Law of the Lord (the Torah in Hebrew). The Law is not simply a collection of precepts to observe, it is the “teaching,” the “word” of God that must become life for men and women, light for their steps. The psalm is divided into 22 stanzas, each composed of eight verses that start with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmist seems to be saying that the Word of God should be at the origin of every one of our words, activities, feelings, and choices. The Word of God is like the alphabet that should guide the believer’s life in every moment and situation. The psalm opens with the beatitude of the believer: “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord” (v. 1). Human happiness consists in following the Word of God. That is why the exhortation to welcome this Word and learn its value appears throughout the psalm. The passage of the psalm that today’s liturgy places on our lips has us sing, “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word” (v. 16). The Word of God is teaching, precept, decree, commandment, desire, joy, life, wisdom, and justice. But is above all a gift that the Lord offers freely to believers: it should be welcomed into the heart and meditated on so that it can bear fruit in our daily lives. The Word of God then becomes light and leavening for a new life. The Word of God is not an empty and inert word. It is effective and brings change to hearts. Let us make the prayer of the psalmist our own: “Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works” (v. 18, 27). Along with listening to the word, we are also asked to meditate on it. Saint John Chrysostom commented on this with these words: “God does not want us to limit ourselves to listening to the words and sentences contained in Scripture, but we should add a prudent reflection to them. Consequently, in the psalms David himself insisted on the term “meditation,” and added: open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” The Word of God should not be listened to only literally, but also spiritually, that is, in a climate of prayer, so that we can be guided by the Spirit and take advantage of the force for change that the Word contains. We can never listen to the Word of God without being troubled in our hearts, without it causing change, or without it bearing fruits of new life. With the psalmist, let us insist in asking the Lord, “Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (v. 35).
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
