EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

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 Saints and the Prophets
Wednesday, 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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Luke 11,29-32

The crowds got even bigger and he addressed them, 'This is an evil generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation. On Judgement Day the Queen of the South will stand up against the people of this generation and be their condemnation, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, look, there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement Day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and, look, there is something greater than Jonah here.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Jesus is surrounded by many people. Like then, still today, many people search for words that comfort and help them not to succumb to the many fears that make life difficult. We are often at the mercy of events. Those who are weaker are also more fragile. If we are not loved, a sense of being lost surrounds us inside and out. This loneliness is exacerbated by a wicked instinct that leads each of us to think only about ourselves and not to look at others. All this happens even more seriously in today's large cities that really look like the city of Nineveh of which the Gospel speaks. In the huge urban peripheries life has become tougher and more violent, especially for the poorest and involves many young people who see the doors of their future barred. Anyway, we see physical and mental imbalances increase, as well as poverty and marginalization, despair and anguish. Like at Jesus' time, people ask for a sign, an event, may be a prodigious one, that may free them from distress. But there are no magical events that change life or sudden fortunes that make our days serene. There is need of a true "sign" that changes the hearts and makes them more in solidarity with others, more welcoming, more able to love. This sign is Jesus himself, for it is he who changes the hearts. In truth, this is the teaching of this Gospel page, the streets and squares of our cities need to be again visited by the preaching of the Gospel, as Jonah to Nineveh. The Gospel is what helps change our hearts make it of flesh and no more of stone. The Gospel needs to be preached in the streets of today's large cities. It is the only true power that makes them human. It is the only word that makes love grow and loneliness and fear flee. Christians need urgently to go out and preach with deeds and words the Gospel of love in the great urban and existential peripheries, as Pope Francis does not tire of repeating. It is a responsibility that involves all the disciples of Jesus. The proclamation of the Gospel and love for the poor are the "sign" that Jesus continues to be the one who saves from sadness and death. The Gospel page warns us that Nineveh changed its life only with Jonah's preaching. Well, the Gospel is a word much more powerful than the ancient prophet one.

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