Memory of Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese man, who was killed by unknown people in Goma for he opposed corruption.
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Memory of Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese man, who was killed by unknown people in Goma for he opposed corruption.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Judith 2,14-28
Leaving the presence of his sovereign, Holofernes immediately summoned all the marshals, generals and officers of the Assyrian army
and detailed the picked troops as his master had ordered, about a hundred and twenty thousand men and a further twelve thousand mounted archers.
He organised these in the normal battle formation.
He then secured vast numbers of camels, donkeys and mules to carry the baggage, and innumerable sheep, oxen and goats for food supplies.
Every man received full rations and a generous sum of gold and silver from the king's purse.
He then set out for the campaign with his whole army, in advance of King Nebuchadnezzar, to overwhelm the whole western region with his chariots, his horsemen and his picked body of foot.
A motley gathering followed in his rear, as numerous as locusts or the grains of sand on the ground; there was no counting their multitude.
Thus they set out from Nineveh and marched for three days towards the Plain of Bectileth. From Bectileth they went on to pitch camp near the mountains that lie to the north of Upper Cilicia.
From there Holofernes advanced into the highlands with his whole army, infantry, horsemen, chariots.
He cut his way through Put and Lud, carried away captive all the sons of Rassis and sons of Ishmael living on the verge of the desert south of Cheleon,
marched along the Euphrates, crossed Mesopotamia, rased all the fortified towns controlling the Wadi Abron and reached the sea.
Next he attacked the territories of Cilicia, butchering all who offered him resistance, advanced on the southern frontiers of Japheth, facing Arabia,
completely encircled the Midianites, burned their tents and plundered their sheep-folds,
made his way down to the Damascus plain at the time of the wheat harvest, set fire to the fields, destroyed the flocks and herds, sacked the towns, laid the countryside waste and put all the young men to the sword.
Fear and trembling seized all the coastal peoples; those of Sidon and Tyre, those of Sur, Ocina and Jamnia. The populations of Azotos and Ascalon were panic-stricken.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
King Nebuchadnezzar entrusts his plan for world domination to his general Holofernes, who assembles an army of immense power. Nebuchadnezzar had already conquered the East with his victory over Ecbatana, when he killed king Arphaxad on the plains of Ragau. Now he intends to carry out his campaign against the west to conquer it. The author describes the army as being a tremendous military power with abundant provisions composed of "a mixed crowd like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth." In this description we easily catch a glimpse of the power of the prince of evil who wants to conquer the whole world. In the Book of Judith, indeed, there is a description of the definitive battle between the power of God and that of the devil. And here we see that evil knows how to find its allies and servants to fight its battle for the conquest of hearts. Holofernes sets out to conquer the west. He advances without meeting any obstacles. He exterminates and lays waste not only to the people and land, but also to the consciences of all the people that he encounters. It appears that total victory is imminent. But, it is precisely in this moment when it seems that evil will win that God will defeat the enemy through the weakness of a woman, Judith. Evil seems to attack people without meeting any resistance: the hearts of the people draw away from what is good, come under the subjugation of evil and are enslaved by violence. Power is not always personified clearly. True, there has been no lack of totalitarian regimes that have crushed men and women. But today, a subtle power insinuates itself in the heart: a materialistic mentality, which does not always have a precise face, but nonetheless advances tirelessly in the conquest of hearts and minds. In these first chapters, it seems that the Book of Judith gives free reign to the power of evil. However, it is at the very moment when evil seems to have taken over everything, that it will face its demise. When evil has exercised most of its power, it will find the reserves of its violence exhausted and its strength will fail it. God did not abandon his people to evil. God continues to be present in the world guiding history. Scriptures tell us that God is present in humility and weakness; and this truth is revealed magnificently in the Book of Judith. We can say that God permits evil to manifest itself so powerfully so as to destroy it down to its root. This is the mystery that will reveal itself in Jesus Christ: that it is precisely when evil seems to have finally defeated God in his Son that evil is definitively destroyed. The advance of destruction is obviously worrisome, but at the same time all believers are asked again to put their faith in God and in his strength.
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
