Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Song of Songs 1, 9-17
LOVER: I compare you, my love, to my mare harnessed to Pharaoh's chariot.
Your cheeks show fair between their pendants and your neck within its necklaces.
We shall make you golden earrings and beads of silver.
DUO: -While the king rests in his own room my nard yields its perfume.
My love is a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.
My love is a cluster of henna flowers among the vines of En-Gedi.
-How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves.
-How beautiful you are, my love, and how you delight me! Our bed is the greensward.
-The beams of our house are cedar trees, its panelling the cypress.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
These verses seem to recall Solomon’s marriage to the daughter of the king of Egypt, an episode that scholars think may be at the origin of the Song of Songs. This would explain the centrality of Solomon in its composition, especially the section that describes his wedding. The example of the mare among the pharaoh’s chariots recalls a story that had become a proverb in antiquity. In the story, an enemy general was able to counter the strength of the pharaoh’s chariot by untying a mare in heat in front of it, therefore driving the stallion that pulled the chariot into a frenzy. In this example we can see God’s frenzy for his people, for his Community. In effect, every page of scripture tells of God’s inconceivable and extraordinary love for men and women. He even left heaven and came to earth in order to live out a love that reason could not imagine. If the Lord himself had not revealed it to us, we could not have comprehended it. And today, even though we have seen extraordinary things and heard unimaginable words, we are so small-minded and hard-headedly turned in on ourselves that we do not recognize God’s love. Is the "cross" that Jesus chose not the sign of the incredible greatness of God’s love for us? When seen in this light, the words of the Song of Songs demonstrate the intensity of the series of compliments exchanged by the two lovers. After the Lord’s praise of the beloved woman, the author depicts their embrace - the embrace of the Lord and the Church - which binds them in a communion full of love. The concrete, physical language used to describe this love invites us to let ourselves be drawn into the holy embrace. Indeed, we need to ask God to place in our hearts the same feelings that the woman in the Song of Songs has for the Lord. We also need to ask God to help us to always be mindful of how greatly the Lord admires the Church. We, who so often only focus on ourselves, cannot grasp the height, the breadth, and the depth of the mystery of God’s love for us. We are quick to forget God and the Church. The sacred author invites us to place on our lips the words of praise spoken by the woman to her beloved and by the beloved to the Church. The Lord tells the Church about her jewellery: "My beloved, you are so beautiful when you wear them!" He is praising the beautiful and good works of love that adorn the Church. How can we not forget what the deacon Lawrence said to the emperor when asked to bring him the treasures of the Church? He showed him the poor people that the Church supported and said, "These are the treasures of the Church." In the Song of Songs the Lord promises to give more. Here we remember the words that Jesus spoke to the apostles: "The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these" (John 14:12). The treasure that comes from love is unimaginable.
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
