Today the Byzantine Church venerates Saint Sabbas (+532), "the Archimandrite of all the hermits of Palestine."
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Today the Byzantine Church venerates Saint Sabbas (+532), "the Archimandrite of all the hermits of Palestine."
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Ezra 7,1-28
After these events, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,
son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,
son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,
son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,
son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron-
this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe versed in the Law of Moses, which Yahweh, God of Israel, had given. The king gave him everything that he asked for, since the hand of Yahweh his God was over him.
A number of Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers and temple slaves went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes.
Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king's reign;
for he had ordered the departure from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, since the kindly hand of his God was over him.
For Ezra had devoted himself to studying the Law of Yahweh so as to put into practice and teach its statutes and rulings.
This is the text of the document which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, the priest-scribe, a student of matters pertaining to Yahweh's commandments and statutes relating to Israel:
'Artaxerxes, king of kings, to the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven: greetings!
'Now here are my orders. All members of the people of Israel in my kingdom, including their priests and Levites, who freely choose to go to Jerusalem, may go with you,
for you are being sent by the king and his seven counsellors to investigate how the Law of your God, in which you are expert, is being applied in Judah and Jerusalem,
and to transport the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have voluntarily offered to the God of Israel who resides in Jerusalem,
as well as all the silver and gold which you receive throughout the province of Babylon and the voluntary offerings freely contributed by the people and the priests for the Temple of their God in Jerusalem.
'This money you will punctiliously use for the purchase of bulls, rams, lambs and the materials for the oblations and libations which go with them, offering these on the altar of the Temple of your God in Jerusalem,
and using the remainder of the silver and gold in accordance with the will of your God as you and your brothers may think fit.
'You will deliver the articles which have been given you for the ministry of the Temple of your God, to the God of Jerusalem,
and whatever else is needed and you are obliged to supply for the Temple of your God, you will supply from the royal treasury.
'I, King Artaxerxes, have issued the following instruction to all the treasurers of Transeuphrates: Whatever the priest Ezra, Secretary of the Law of the God of heaven, may request of you is to be punctiliously complied with:
up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred kor of wheat, one hundred bat of wine, one hundred bat of oil, and unlimited salt.
Whatever the God of heaven demands for the Temple of the God of heaven must be diligently provided; why should retribution come on the realm of the king and of his sons?
You are further informed that it is against the law to impose tribute, tax or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple slaves or other servants of this temple of God.
'And you, Ezra, by virtue of the wisdom of your God, which you possess, are to appoint magistrates and scribes to administer justice for the whole people of Transeuphrates, that is, for all who know the Law of your God; and you are to teach it to those who do not know it.
And on anyone who will not comply with the Law of your God and the Law of the king let sentence be swiftly executed, whether it be death, banishment, fine or imprisonment.'
Blessed be Yahweh, God of our ancestors, who moved the king's heart in this way to restore the beauty of the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem,
won for me the faithful love of the king, his counsellors and all the most powerful of the king's officials! Taking heart since the hand of Yahweh my God was over me, I assembled those Israelite heads of families who were to go with me.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Here we meet the figure of Ezra the scribe, "skilled in the law of Moses." He will be the one who will position the Torah, the Pentateuch, as the point of reference for Israel after exile. Before him there did not exist a true codification of the Bible. The first compilation was the first part of the sacred text, in Hebrew - the Torah’, which translated literally means "teaching," a more broad concept than what we intend with law. Ezra’s task, as we will see later in chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah, was precisely to place the Torah at the centre of the life of Israel. Already in this chapter the text speaks of "which is in your hand" (v.14). This will be the main task of Ezra, who will construct the identity of Israel not only in the period after exile, but of Israel in all times. Here we see Ezra invested with authority by the Persian king Artaxerxes, who sent him to Jerusalem so that he could truly make it possible for the inhabitants of Judah to worship the Lord in the temple. For this purpose he is given all the necessary objects of worship to bring to the temple "the silver and gold ... the freewill-offerings of the people and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem." With the silver they were able to buy sacrificial animals for the temple (cfr. v. 17). Animal sacrifice was an essential part of worship in the temple, as the book of Leviticus describes to us. This passage concludes with a doxology, praise to the Lord for all that he has done. Ezra gathers the great benevolence of God, who "who extended to me steadfast love" in front of the power of the Persian kings. In this way he felt encouraged by the Lord’s love, and this allowed him to bring to fulfilment the task for which he had been chosen. The Lord does not abandon his disciples. If he entrusts a task to them, then he also confers to them the strength to carry it out.
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
