EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day

Memory of the Church

The Jews celebrate the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost).
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Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church

Psalmody

Psalm 74

Antiphon

We praise you Lord for your wonderful deeds.

We give thanks to you, O God,
we give thanks and call upon your name.
We recount your wonderful deeds.

'When I reach the appointed time,
then I will judge with justice.

Though the earth and all who dwell in it may rock,
it is I who uphold its pillars.

To the boastful I say : "Do not boast,"
to the wicked ; "Do not flaunt your strength,

do not flaunt your strength on high.
Do not speak with insolent pride."'

For neither from the east nor from the west,
nor from desert or mountains comes judgement,

but God himself is the judge.
One he humbles, another he exalts.

The Lord holds a cup in his hand,
full of wine, foaming and spiced.

He pours it; they drink it to the dregs :
all the wicked on the earth must drain it.

As for me, I will rejoice for ever
and sing Psalms to Jacob's God.

He shall break the power of the wicked,
while the strength of the just shall be exalted.

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