EVERYDAY PRAYER

Sunday Vigil
Word of god every day

Sunday Vigil

Prayer for the unity of Christians. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the Orient (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Syrian of Malabar) and of the Assyrian Church. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Sunday Vigil
Saturday, January 20

Prayer for the unity of Christians. Particular memory of the ancient Churches of the Orient (Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Armenian, Syrian of Malabar) and of the Assyrian Church.


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Mark 3,20-21

He went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relations heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; they said, 'He is out of his mind.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jesus returns home in Capernaum. Immediately a crowd forms around him, and he even could not eat. For this crowd, as for all the crowds of the needy, Jesus is moved to compassion and feels no peace. This Gospel passage questions us about the laziness that so many times marks our life. How often do we busy ourselves with our schedules, responding only to our needs, leaving out completely any consideration for those in need of help? We should not let ourselves always be the only measure of our days and of our preoccupations. The Lord has entrusted to us poor and sick brothers and sisters for whom we should be responsible. And if this becomes the new rhythm of our life, then we too will face the same criticisms that Jesus got from his family: "But you are exaggerating! You can't keep thinking only of others!" and so on. It is also not uncommon to be accused of being "do-gooders." Jesus received directly these criticisms, but he never disobeyed the will of the Father. Jesus was only twelve when he said even to Mary and Joseph who were looking for him: "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" His family even goes so far as to say that Jesus "has gone out of his mind," that he is crazy, and they try to bring him back to normality, that is, to a flat life of indifference. On the contrary, the Gospel is like a fire that burns and moves. It is a force of love that brings us out of ourselves, out of our small horizon to welcome that of God.

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!