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
1 Kings 19,9-18
There he went into a cave and spent the night there. Then the word of Yahweh came to him saying, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I am full of jealous zeal for Yahweh Sabaoth, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, have torn down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me.' Then he was told, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.' For at that moment Yahweh was going by. A mighty hurricane split the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh. But Yahweh was not in the hurricane. And after the hurricane, an earthquake. But Yahweh was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, fire. But Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire, a light murmuring sound. And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice came to him, which said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I am full of jealous zeal for Yahweh, God Sabaoth, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, have torn down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left and now they want to kill me.' 'Go,' Yahweh said, 'go back by the same way to the desert of Damascus. You must go and anoint Hazael as king of Aram. You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, as prophet to succeed you. Anyone who escapes the sword of Hazael will be put to death by Jehu; and anyone who escapes the sword of Jehu will be put to death by Elisha. But I shall spare seven thousand in Israel; all the knees that have not bent before Baal, all the mouths that have not kissed him.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
As if to accompany Elijah’s memory, the Word of God today suggests a meditation on the encounter with God on Mount Horeb. Elijah had spent the night in a cave, as if to signify the need to go into oneself, into the depth of one’s heart, into that inner room where it is possible to meet the Lord. In the cave he hears the very voice of God who asks him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” It is a clear and direct question, like that addressed to Adam after his sin, or to Cain after killing his brother. Elijah knows the Lord is questioning him, and responds directly by narrating what happened to him on account of his zeal for what the Lord asked him. The text says: “I have been very zealous for the Lord!” Who of us could respond so quickly and sincerely? It is precisely his zeal for the Lord that endangers him. But the Lord does not respond to Elijah’s bitterness about how he has been treated. The prophet remains silently alone. Elijah is still a prisoner of self and of his history, of his heroic exploits always centred on himself. It is true that he is full of passion for the Lord, but he has taken flight from his people. It is not possible to be zealous for God if at the same time one is not zealous for his people; one cannot love God without also loving his people. The Lord cannot be divided from his own. This is why we cannot be saved individually; only in communion with the people of God can salvation be found. The Lord presses upon the prophet and asks him to go out upon the mountain. And behold, “Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.” Elijah did not go out, but remained in the interior of the cave, closed in upon his own personal horizon. Perhaps he expected what had happened to Moses, also on Horeb. The book of Exodus says: “Here was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud ... Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, ... while the whole mountain shook violently” (Ex 19:16-18). And this “because the Lord had descended upon it in fire.” We, too, may think that God is present in the tempest and in natural disasters, not because we resemble Elijah, but because we are still bound to archaic language. The Lord is neither in earthquakes nor in storms, as he certainly is neither in wars nor in the conflicts that destroy the lives of millions of people. God does not dwell in earthquakes that shake up the earth, nor in fires which devour persons as in hell. But behold, a light wind caresses Elijah. Suddenly the prophet covers his face with his mantle and goes out of the cave. The light wind, the breath of the Spirit, the breath of love had unhinged the armour of his defences and thrust the heart of the prophet into the horizons of the world. The light wind is the weak strength of love. It is with love, with this weak strength, that the torn tissue of the children of God is reconstituted. The Lord is in the light wind, he is in love. When God repeats the question, the prophet again responds with the same words. But now it is the Lord who commands him to take up the journey again. Elijah must still accomplish his mission in order not to abandon the people of God without the light of his Word. Certainly he must uproot that which destroys, but he must choose Elisha to continue his mission.
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
