Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Ecclesiastes 1,1-3
Composition of Qoheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Sheer futility, Qoheleth says. Sheer futility: everything is futile!
What profit can we show for all our toil, toiling under the sun?
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
The author of these "words" hides behind the pseudonym Qohelet; one could translate "preacher." The term recalls the "assembly" (q?h?l), perhaps a religious assembly or a group of disciples or, more generally, the "people" (cf. 12:9). This little book, together with Proverbs, the Song of Songs and Wisdom, is tied to the wisdom books of which Solomon is the inspiration. Verse 2 presents us with the most famous phrase of this small book, as if to synthesize its whole meaning: "All is vanity." The Hebrew term used by the author is, however, not abstract but concrete it means "breath of wind" (hebel). It is a metaphor that considers the whole of life, even the whole of reality, "as" a breath. It is the same root used to name "Abel," Cain’s brother, whose identity is in fact: "breath, weakness." Many commentators have translated hebel as "empty, absurd." But Qohelet is neither an atheist nor an apostate from the Jewish faith of his time. He captures the transitory nature, the instability, the littleness, the vanity, which nests in and makes up the whole of human life. He, in fact, adds that all of human life is an anxious busy-ness of work and tasks which fatigue and consume body and mind for the sake of obtaining some benefit. But what is the benefit? Qohelet replies: none. It is a warning not to conceive life or work as acquiring a "product": the end result is a "breath of wind." The author, however, does not want to destroy the desire to live nor render null the quest for happiness. In the course of the small book we encounter a tragic vision of life which passes like a breath of wind, despite our attempts at strength and omnipotence. But at the same time, life also appears as a beautiful thing. What we can discern from these first words is the conviction that this "breath of wind" which we are is watched over and loved by God, as Abel had been watched over and loved by God, Abel the son of Adam and Cain’s brother. Each person is an "Abel" to be loved and watched over as the Lord has done since the beginning of creation.
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
