EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Tuesday, October 23


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

Luke 12,35-38

'See that you have your belts done up and your lamps lit. Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch that he comes, or in the third, but blessed are those servants if he finds them ready.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In contrast to the unwise rich man who was surprised by death, Jesus talks of the disciple who waits for the Lord. Vigilance becomes one of the most fundamental dimensions of the Christian life. Those who stay focused on themselves and fall asleep on their things are asked to turn their gaze upwards and be waiting for the Lord's return. Jesus says, "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit." To be dressed for action means that one is to be prepared for immediate action. Indeed, this is how the Israelites had to be when they fled from Egypt: they had to gird their loins, that is to be ready to leave at any moment (Ex 12:11). Keeping the lamps lit meant the same thing: being ready for action even at night. Waiting for the Lord is the beatitude of the believer. In fact, as it is written in the book of Revelation, the Lord stands every day before the door of our hearts and knocks. Blessed are those who open the door because they will receive an incredible reward: The Master himself will become their servant and will gird himself and invite them to sit at table and will come and serve them. The roles have reversed. This seems incredible but it is the very paradoxical nature of the grace we have received. Jesus presents himself as the one who serves and not only does he say it, but he acts accordingly. Throughout the Last Supper, Jesus behaved literally like a servant: taking a basin, he tied a towel around his waist and one by one, washed the feet of the disciples. This image is an integral part of the Gospel message that announces that God loves us to the point of bending down at our feet. This is what happens every time we welcome the Lord in prayer or in service to the poor and especially during the holy Liturgy in which he prepares a banquet and feeds us with his Word and flesh. The beatitude of waiting for the Lord does not consist in what we can offer to him as much as in the benefit that we receive when we welcome him into our hearts. The Lord comes to serve, help and liberate us to bring us to Heaven at his side.

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