Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Nehemiah 6,1-19
When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single gap was left -- though at that time I had not fixed the doors to the gates-
Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, 'Come and meet us at Ha-Chephirim in the Vale of Ono.' But they had evil designs on me.
So I sent messengers to them to say, 'I am engaged in a great undertaking, so I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?'
Four times they sent me the same invitation and I made them the same reply.
The fifth time, with the same purpose in mind, Sanballat sent me his servant bearing an open letter.
It ran, 'There is a rumour among the nations -- and Gashmu confirms it -- that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, which is why you are rebuilding the wall, and you intend to become their king;
and that you have even briefed prophets to acclaim you in Jerusalem with the cry, "There is a king in Judah!" Now, these rumours are going to reach the king; so you had better come and discuss them with us.'
To this I sent him the following reply, 'As regards what you say, nothing of the sort has occurred; it is a figment of your own imagination.'
For they were all trying to terrorise us, thinking, 'They will become demoralised over the work and it will not get finished.' But my morale rose even higher.
Then, when I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, since he was prevented from coming to me, he said: We must gather at the Temple of God, inside the sanctuary itself; we must shut the sanctuary doors, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you tonight!
But I retorted, 'Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the Temple to save his life? I shall not go in!'
I realised that God had not sent him to say this, but that he had produced this prophecy for me because Tobiah was paying him
to terrorise me into doing as he said and committing a sin, so that they would have grounds for blackening my reputation and blaming me.
Remember Tobiah, my God, for what he did; and Noadiah the prophetess, and the other prophets who tried to terrorise me.
The wall was finished within fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.
When all our enemies heard about it and all the surrounding nations saw it, they thought it a wonderful thing, because they realised that this work had been accomplished by the power of our God.
During this same period, the nobles of Judah kept sending letter after letter to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah kept arriving for them;
for he had many sworn to his interest in Judah, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
They even cried up his good deeds in my presence, and they reported what I said back to him. And Tobiah kept sending letters to terrorise me.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Let us again take up the reading of the book of Nehemiah. The author presents obstacles that were placed to complicate the work of the rebuilding of the city walls. Sanballat twice tries to deceive Nehemiah in order to make him withdraw from the task begun and which is now reaching its conclusion. He first offers an encounter in an unknown location to cause the work to stop, but Nehemiah intuits the aim and rejects the invitation. He then sends an unsealed letter, the accusations within which could be shared with all, putting Nehemiah in a bad light: he is depicted as having personal political motives (rebellion and the plan to become king!). No doubt the author wants to show the determination and insistence that attempt to make Nehemiah desist from a work so important for the future of the Jerusalem community. The force of evil insinuates itself in the believer’s life, seeking all means to hinder any effort that can bring unity and communion. Often in the New Testament, Christians are put on guard against the spirit of division, which would impede communion. Jesus is aware of this and thus insistently prays, precisely before his passion, that his disciples be one in unity (John 17:20-21). Paul the apostle too is concerned for the unity of his communities, not rarely disturbed by internal differences and divisions that risk making vain the gospel he preaches, as the examples in Corinth show (cf. 1 Cor 1:3, 12). Despite the opposition to Nehemiah, the rebuilding of the walls is finished in a short time, in demonstration of the protection of God who does not abandon those who trust in him: "And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid* and fell greatly in their own esteem; for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God." This, however, does not wholly eliminate the enmity of Tobiah and the notables, who continue to see in Nehemiah’s work a danger perhaps to the power they enjoyed within the city.
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
