EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Mother of the Lord
Word of god every day

Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memory of Saint Polycarp, disciple of the apostle John, bishop and martyr (+155).
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Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Memory of Saint Polycarp, disciple of the apostle John, bishop and martyr (+155).


Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Ecclesiastes 2,12-17

My reflections then turned to wisdom, stupidity and folly. For instance, what can the successor of a king do? What has been done already.

More is to be gained from wisdom than from folly, just as one gains more from light than from darkness; this, of course, I see:

The wise have their eyes open, the fool walks in the dark. No doubt! But I know, too, that one fate awaits them both.

'Since the fool's fate', I thought to myself, 'will be my fate too, what is the point of my having been wise?' I realised that this too is futile.

For there is no lasting memory for the wise or the fool, and in the days to come both will be forgotten; the wise, no less than the fool, must die.

Life I have come to hate, for what is done under the sun disgusts me, since all is futility and chasing after the wind.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Pseudo-Solomon extends his reflection to the lived experience. And he questions himself on two more topics: what are wisdom, folly and foolishness? Pseudo-Solomon, after having delved into life’s enigmas, admits his defeat. And he does this by judging the first "good which at the cost of toil" he had cultivated: knowledge and understanding. He considers his quest for wisdom as having passed, his challenge to himself in wanting to be lowered even into the labyrinths of stupidity (cf. 1:17). Well, then, what result has such a persistent quest produced? It is as if to say: "What shall the king who succeeds me do? He shall repeat things already done!" True, if one thinks of his son Roboam, who will split his father’s kingdom into two hostile stumps, as if his father had never existed, weaver of an internal and external politic which was refined and competent. All must begin anew. No doubt wisdom excels folly, like light excels darkness (v.13). The argument is corroborated by proverb: "The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness" (v. 14a). But the fact that both die cancels the one’s advantage over the other’s (v. 14b). Death makes everything and everyone even. There will be no remembrance of the wise one or of the fool. All will be forgotten (v. 16). Qohelet asks himself what meaning has life if the same fate which befalls the stupid also happens for me who has understood, discovered and trained? The conclusion is discouraging: "So I hated life." Pseudo-Solomon does not in any case think of putting an end to his life, there is no question of any suicidal purpose. To the contrary, he furiously protests against death. And he acknowledges that life, if it is deprived of love, produces only disgust. Qohelet well knows that anxiously seeking pleasure and success does not lead to happiness, but only to disgust and violence. It is obvious to him that "doing" and "pleasure," in light of the inevitability of death, whether of the just or of the fool, manifests their inabilities to lead one to happiness. Why then toil in order to reflect, understand, know, if only death lies ahead? "This, too," he concludes "is ‘hebel,’" it is a "breath of wind." Death, nevertheless, though it makes the question of the meaning of life dramatic, does not annul it. If anything, it reopens it dramatically. But only with the resurrection of Jesus will there be a full answer to the drama that death casts over human life.

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR

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!

WORD OF GOD EVERY DAY: THE CALENDAR