Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
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Prayer for the unity of the Churches. Particular memory of the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Tobit 1,10-22
When the banishment into Assyria came, I was taken away and went to Nineveh. All my brothers and the people of my race ate the food of the heathen,
but for my part I was careful not to eat the food of the heathen.
And because I had kept faith with my God with my whole heart,
the Most High granted me the favour of Shalmaneser, and I became the king's purveyor.
Until his death I used to travel to Media, where I transacted business on his behalf, and I deposited sacks of silver worth ten talents with Gabael the brother of Gabrias at Rhages in Media.
On the death of Shalmaneser his son Sennacherib succeeded; the roads into Media were barred, and I could no longer go there.
In the days of Shalmaneser I had often given alms to the people of my race;
I gave my bread to the hungry and clothes to those who lacked them; and I buried, when I saw them, the bodies of my country-folk thrown over the walls of Nineveh.
I also buried those who were killed by Sennacherib. When Sennacherib was beating a disorderly retreat from Judaea after the King of heaven had punished his blasphemies, he killed a great number of Israelites in his rage. So I stole their bodies to bury them; Sennacherib looked for them and could not find them.
A Ninevite went and told the king it was I who had buried them secretly. When I knew that the king had been told about me and saw myself being hunted by men who would put me to death, I was afraid and fled.
All my goods were seized; they were all confiscated by the treasury; nothing was left me but my wife Anna and my son Tobias.
Less than forty days after this, the king was murdered by his two sons, who then fled to the mountains of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded. Ahikar the son of my brother Anael, was appointed chancellor of the exchequer for the kingdom and given the main ordering of affairs.
Ahikar then interceded for me and I was allowed to return to Nineveh, since Ahikar had been chief cupbearer, keeper of the signet, administrator and treasurer under Sennacherib king of Assyria, and Esarhaddon had kept him in office. He was a relation of mine; he was my nephew.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Tobit continues to speak about himself, and, after having recalled his past as a believer in Jerusalem, he now describes his situation as an exile. Even in exile, he has not stopped being faithful to the Law of the Lord. Indeed, with a touch of pride, he emphasizes that he does not want to eat the food of the Gentiles, and, above all, he continues to practice almsgiving, which is strongly recommended by Scripture. Nonetheless, his faithfulness to the Law does not keep him from working as a buyer for the king Shalmaneser (vv. 11-12). This brings to mind the stories already lived by Joseph, Daniel, and Mordecai. Faith does not prevent believers of different faiths from living together, and none of them are obliged to compromise their respective religious convictions. In fact, the text seems to suggest the opposite when it has Tobit say: "Because I was mindful of God with all my heart, the Most High gave me favour and good standing with Shalmaneser." Unfortunately, Tobit fell into disfavour with the new king, even though he obviously continued to live out his faith devotedly, just as he had always done. While he continued to practice almsgiving, Tobit decided to reach out to a "new poverty," that is, the many dead bodies that had been abandoned with no one to take care of them. Tobit felt the urgency of providing the new work of mercy of burying the bodies in which no one took an interest. The verb "to bury," which will be repeated seventeen times in the book, constitutes one of the book’s important themes. Tobit’s testimony will carry notable weight in the Christian tradition, especially during the Middle Ages. But it is precisely this mercy towards the dead that causes Tobit’s ruin. He is denounced for his work of charity to the king Sennacherib (v. 19-20). Forced to flee, only one source of wealth remains to him, his family. Despite his faithfulness to God and his justice, Tobit once again knows exile. Nevertheless, a change in the situation of the royal family (the ascendancy of Ahikar, one of Sennacherib’s administrators who was considered a relative of Tobit) permits him to return to Nineveh.
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
