Memory of Joseph of Arimathaea, disciple of the Lord who "awaited the kingdom of God."
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Memory of Joseph of Arimathaea, disciple of the Lord who "awaited the kingdom of God."
Reading of the Word of God
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Ecclesiastes 10,1-7
One dead fly can spoil the scent-maker's oil: a grain of stupidity outweighs wisdom and glory.
The sage's heart leads him aright, the fool's leads him astray.
A fool walks down the road, he has no wit -- and everyone remarks, 'How silly he is!'
If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post; composure mitigates grave offences.
One evil I observe under the sun: the sort of misjudgement to which rulers are prone-
folly promoted to the top and the rich taking the lowest place.
I see slaves riding on horses and princes on foot like slaves.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.
Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory
Qohelet brings up again the contrast between wisdom and stupidity, which he had already hinted to previously (9:17). The proverb cited stresses that a small quantity of a poisonous substance (dead flies) suffices to ruin a vast quantity of a precious substance (wisdom and honour). The poison, which even in small doses kills, is stupidity. A small amount is enough to ruin everything. But take heed, the poison, even before it is external to a person, is present in the very heart. It is, in fact, in the heart that sin abides, or, if you prefer, those bad instincts that ruin every thought, every inspiration, every action. We should be more than vigilant in the heart so as not to contaminate our life and thus lose wisdom and honour. Yes, a little is enough to lose them. From a heart educated by wisdom, good attitudes flow: "the heart of the wise inclines to the right;" from the heart that allows itself to be guided by foolishness, deviations and sadness abound: "the heart of a fool to the left." Foolishness is manifested when the heart does not allow itself to be educated by wisdom. The fool is always a source of banality, beginning with judgment of others. Qohelet then suggests to the wise how to react in the face of arrogance and abuse from the one who is superior to them. He exhorts to calm and patience. He counsels against a violent and polemical reaction. Calm achieves appeasement and causes to simmer down even the gravest offences. He follows the line of the proverbs: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (15:1). Calm implies self-control and maturity of judgment. He further observers that often the powerful surround themselves with stupid and incompetent collaborators, while they "keep down" the competent (v. 6). And it thus happens that the mediocre rise to positions of command, while those who would be capable are excluded: "I have seen slaves on horseback and princes walking on foot like slaves" (v. 7). The book of Proverbs too laments: "Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up: a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when glutted with food; an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maid when she succeeds her mistress ... It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury, much less for a slave to rule over princes" (30:21-23; 19:10).
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
