Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Judith 4,1-8
When the Israelites living in Judaea heard how Holofernes, general-in-chief of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, had treated the various nations, plundering their temples and destroying them,
they were thoroughly alarmed at his approach and trembled for Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord their God.
They had returned from captivity only a short time before, and the resettlement of the people in Judaea and the reconsecration of the sacred furnishings, of the altar, and of the Temple, which had been profaned, were of recent date.
They therefore alerted the whole of Samaria, Kona, Beth-Horon, Belmain, Jericho, Choba, Aesora and the Salem valley.
They occupied the summits of the highest mountains and fortified the villages on them; they laid in supplies for the coming war, as the fields had just been harvested.
Joakim the high priest, resident in Jerusalem at the time, wrote to the inhabitants of Bethulia and of Betomesthaim, two towns facing Esdraelon, towards the plain of Dothan.
He ordered them to occupy the mountain passes, the only means of access to Judaea, for there it would be easy for them to halt an attacking force, the narrowness of the approach not allowing men to advance more than two abreast.
The Israelites carried out the orders of Joakim the high priest and of the people's Council of Elders in session at Jerusalem.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The sacred author first describes the enormous power of Nebuchadnezzar which makes all the peoples of the earth bend to his will, and then gives an account of the resistance of the little kingdom of Judah. This is an impressive clash of forces. On one side is almost the entire universe lined up to strike Judah, and on the other side is this small community of people who resist this absolute power. It is yet another manifestation of God’s way of acting in the world. For God makes himself present under the sign of humility, poverty, and powerlessness. Jesus lived this himself and has said it for the disciples of all time: "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves" (Mt 10:16). This is the actual situation of the people of God before the world. God is present in humility and in silence; while power is in the hands of others and, if we attempt to assume it, we will compromise our faithfulness to God. In truth this is the eternal temptation experienced by Israel and Jesus himself, as well as all disciples throughout Christian history. The people of Israel had only recently returned from exile; they had rebuilt the temple and now had to face a threat even more serious than deportation and exile. Holofernes was ready to destroy not only the temple but also the faith itself of God’s people. The small people of Judah prepare to resist not so much to save themselves as to save the covenant with God. Israel knows that Holofernes seeks the destruction of all religion, of all deities. In short, it is a true war of religious persecution: the king wants to put himself in God’s place. From Jerusalem comes the order to occupy the heights of the hills, to surround the cities and villages with walls, and to bring supplies in order to resist the siege. The inhabitants of Bethulia, the gate of the kingdom, must keep watch on the mountain passes. Thus, the people of Judah prepare as best they can for the encounter with Nebuchadnezzar’s army led by Holofernes, who gathers all the nations. Their efforts appear to be small. Their resistance not only seems futile, but it even looks ridiculous. And yet the nation prepares, it yields not; it puts into place all it can to withstand the tide which is about to submerge it. God asks us to do what we can, so that He himself can then come in and render efficacious human effort. But Israel’s true weapon, perhaps even its sole weapon, is the pleading prayer of the women and children to God. The other peoples had given up the fight just to save their lives, and now they were all at the service of Nebuchadnezzar, aiding the army whose aim was to eliminate worship of God from the earth. It is true that even if Nebuchadnezzar struck down the kingdom of Judah and destroyed the temple, this would not mean that God would be beaten, but there would no longer be a lamp to the true God on earth, no cult given to the true God. Israel is aware that it has a received a sacred trust, a mission which it cannot renounce. In all the earth Israel is called to give testimony to the true God to all the nations. Judaism cannot yield, cannot accept defeat, and prepares for the unequal battle. Holofernes cannot understand how this people, the smallest on earth, can dare to resist his might. All the other nations had fallen at his feet; so why does this one resist? Israel’s mission is also that of the Church: to witness to all peoples of the earth God’s absolute primacy over everything, a primacy of love and mercy. This is why believers relativize all power, and rather ask everyone not to live for themselves but for the Lord and for others. But this opposition to the power of evil involves a fight that does not cease. It is a struggle which appears unequal, but this is why Jesus assures us: "The gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (Mt 16:18). True resistance to evil is that of the martyrs, of those who resist evil even at the cost of their own lives.
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
