EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people acquired by God
to proclaim his marvellous works.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Acts 5,17-33

Then the high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Filled with jealousy,

they arrested the apostles and had them put in the public gaol.

But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out,

'Go and take up position in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.'

They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach. When the high priest arrived, he and his supporters convened the Sanhedrin -- this was the full Senate of Israel -- and sent to the gaol for them to be brought.

But when the officials arrived at the prison they found they were not inside, so they went back and reported,

'We found the gaol securely locked and the warders on duty at the gates, but when we unlocked the door we found no one inside.'

When the captain of the Temple and the chief priests heard this news they wondered what could be happening.

Then a man arrived with fresh news. 'Look!' he said, 'the men you imprisoned are in the Temple. They are standing there preaching to the people.'

The captain went with his men and fetched them -- though not by force, for they were afraid that the people might stone them.

When they had brought them in to face the Sanhedrin, the high priest demanded an explanation.

'We gave you a strong warning', he said, 'not to preach in this name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to fix the guilt for this man's death on us.'

In reply Peter and the apostles said, 'Obedience to God comes before obedience to men;

it was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, whom you executed by hanging on a tree.

By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader and Saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel.

We are witnesses to this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.'

This so infuriated them that they wanted to put them to death.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

You will be holy,
because I am holy, thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The high priest and the Sadducees, envious at the success of the apostles, order their arrest. The text says that they are "filled with jealousy." We know the damage that envy can cause; envy is the most diabolical of evil feelings. In the book of Wisdom it is said that death entered the world through the envy of the devil, and it was because of envy that the apostles were put into prison. The preaching of the Word of God was truly working miracles and the Christian community was growing in number and favour among people. But Jesus’ same destiny falls also upon those who try to follow the Teacher. They are put to prison by the high priest; but the Lord does not abandon his disciples and during the night an angel miraculously freed them from prison and ordered them to go back into the temple to preach to the people. One could say that it had become impossible to keep the Word of God in chains; the many Herods who from time to time will try to silence the Gospel will be defeated. Even during the twentieth century we witnessed the tragedies caused by totalitarian regimes that tried to silence the Gospel by imprisoning and killing those who witnessed to it. But sooner or later the Gospel word breaks every chain. It does not eliminate the persecutors, of course; what comes from the mouths of the prisoners is a prayer even for those who persecute them. Blinded by their anger, the Sanhedrin has the apostles thrown into prison again. But once again Peter and John witness to the primacy of obedience to God. It is an obedience they live first personally. Indeed, they do not act out of a personal initiative or to propose their doctrines; rather they want to communicate to the world all that the lord did and ordered them to transmit: "We are witnesses to these things (Jesus’ resurrection), and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him." The disciples are called first to obey the Holy Spirit. And they say it clearly to the priests: "We must obey God rather than any human authority."

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