EVERYDAY PRAYER

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

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Memorial of Filomena, an elderly woman from Trastevere in Rome, who died in a nursing home in 1976. With her we remember all the elderly, especially those who are alone and those who live in institutions. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, December 12

Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. Memorial of Filomena, an elderly woman from Trastevere in Rome, who died in a nursing home in 1976. With her we remember all the elderly, especially those who are alone and those who live in institutions.


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

Matthew 18,12-14

'Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? In truth I tell you, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jesus pronounces these words during a disagreement with the Pharisees, who claimed to be the guides of the people of Israel. But they were bad shepherds. Their legalism led them to be scornful and intolerant with the weak and sinners. Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd whose first responsibility is to be merciful. And he tells the parable of the lost sheep: "What happens if a sheep is lost?" The immediate response of the shepherd is to leave the other remaining sheep in safety and to go out and look for the lost one until he finds it. Jesus does not take the sheep's guilt into account, he only mentions the shepherd's responsibility. The loss of a sheep, even just one, does not reduce the shepherd's care for it. If anything, it increases it. The evangelist adds that if the sheep is found - and unfortunately, the search does not always end positively - the shepherd "rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray." Jesus clarifies that God's desire is for no sheep to get lost. Indeed, God sent him to earth for this very reason, to seek and find that which was lost. What a difference from our carelessness towards each other! Contrary to our indifference, the Lord takes care of each individual, starting with those who are lost. We could say that he makes himself a beggar for each one of us. This is the kind of love that should prevail in lives of Christian communities: a love that knows no limits. Every disciple should care for each of his brothers and sisters with the same care as God. The joy and festivity of fraternity comes from this kind of love. As we listen to this Gospel, we cannot help but ask ourselves about the quality of the love that we have among each other and among our Christian communities. How many people suffer or stray without anyone noticing or taking care of them? Jesus, the good shepherd, calls us back to the primacy of love for others, especially the weak and those who let themselves be overwhelmed by evil.

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