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
Jeremiah 1, 11-19
The word of Yahweh came to me, asking, 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' I answered, 'I see a branch of the Watchful Tree.'
Then Yahweh said, 'Well seen, for I am watching over my word to perform it.'
A second time the word of Yahweh came to me, asking, 'What do you see?' I answered, 'I see a cooking pot on the boil, with its mouth tilting from the north.'
Then Yahweh said: 'From the north disaster will come boiling over on all who live in the country,
for I am now summoning all the families of the kingdoms of the north, Yahweh declares. They will come, and each will set his throne in front of the gates of Jerusalem, all round, against its walls and against all the towns of Judah.
I shall pronounce my judgements on them because of all their wickedness, since they have abandoned me, offering incense to other gods and worshipping what their own hands have made.
'As for you, prepare yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command you. Have no fear of them and in their presence I will make you fearless.
For look, today I have made you into a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze to stand against the whole country: the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests and the people of the country.
They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you, Yahweh declares, to rescue you.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Being a prophet means living by visions, beginning to see other people and history through the eyes of God and not through the eyes of our own narrow horizons. God keeps asking Jeremiah what he sees: it is an exhortation to listen continuously to the Word of God, which, like a light, helps us to read the “signs of the times”, as the Blessed John XXIII would say. The prophet is the one who, having listened to the Word of God, has to communicate it to the world in order to help the world gain a deeper understanding of history. People cannot live with their eyes turned in on themselves. The word of God takes us beyond a superficial reading of events; it opens our eyes to the future; it helps us understand the direction of history, without leaving us prisoners of prejudice, fear, or anxiety when we are faced with things that are difficult to understand. The Lord sends the prophet to all nations, not just to his own people. In fact, prophecy opens a believer’s eyes and heart to the world, allowing him or her to have a new, broader understanding of history. The Word of God therefore does not us distract us from history. On the contrary, it carries us deeper into its drama to show us the way of salvation. The Lord himself “watches over” the world to ensure that his word will be fulfilled and reach all people. In fact, as is written in the book of Isaiah, the word of God “shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (55:11). We should not be afraid of difficult times like the ones in which we are living. Rather, we urgently must welcome God’s promise and, like Samuel, never let any of the words we hear “fall to the ground.” God’s call flings open our closed hearts, frees us from fear, and sends us into history with a new spirit and a new vision. The Lord himself makes the prophet as strong as a fortified city and as solid as a bronze wall. This same steadfastness is what drives God to send his own Son, Jesus Christ, to be Emmanuel, “God with us,” and accompany us “always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20).
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
