Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Judith 16,18-25
When they reached Jerusalem they fell on their faces before God and, once the people had been purified, they presented their burnt offerings, voluntary offerings and gifts.
All Holofernes' property given her by the people, and the canopy she herself had stripped from his bed, Judith vowed to God as a dedicated offering.
For three months the people gave themselves up to rejoicings in front of the Temple in Jerusalem, where Judith stayed with them.
When this was over, everyone returned home. Judith went back to Bethulia and lived on her property; as long as she lived, she enjoyed a great reputation throughout the country.
She had many suitors, but all her days, from the time her husband Manasseh died and was gathered to his people, she never gave herself to another man.
Her fame spread more and more, the older she grew in her husband's house; she lived to the age of one hundred and five. She emancipated her maid, then died in Bethulia and was buried in the cave where Manasseh her husband lay.
The House of Israel mourned her for seven days. Before her death she had distributed her property among her own relations and those of her husband Manasseh.
Never again during the lifetime of Judith, nor indeed for a long time after her death, did anyone trouble the Israelites.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Book of Judith’s epilogue brings us to Jerusalem where all the people are celebrating before the sanctuary, the interior part of the Temple reserved for the priests; however, here it is all the people who celebrate the liberation of their nation and exalt God for all that he had done. In this scene, we catch a glimpse of what the Christian Book of Revelation will say about the time when we will be welcomed into the holy city of Jerusalem and we will have no need to enter a temple, because God will dwell among the people and we will see God "face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). The sacred author presents us once again with the figure of Judith who sings songs of praise to God. Her words reveal a heart full of faith and free from self-love. She takes nothing for herself, sings of her work without any hint of self-centeredness, without boasting about her merits, and celebrates God as the one and only saviour. Throughout the canticle, one could marvel at the continual returning to the possessive adjective "my," but Judith, to the extent to which she has given herself to the Lord as his obedient instrument, identifies completely with her people. Judith was presented to Holofernes (cf. 10:12) as the daughter of Israel, and recognized by Uzziah as a blessed daughter (cf. 13:18). She represents, therefore, her "people" through the aspects of her beauty, wisdom, and courage, and this renders her people worthy of respect among all other peoples. Furthermore, and perhaps because she is in every sense a daughter, Judith is also a sister, and she regards her people through the lens of fraternity: "Therefore, my brothers, let us set an example to our kindred ..." (8:24). We could add that she is fully a mother. The text does not speak of flesh and blood children, but she gives birth to her people’s faith and liberty - not only because she frees them from their enemies, but also because she shows them that God is truly the only Lord of their life who they must recognize. We can call Judith the mother of believers, of the people of Israel and of Achior, who, through her, join themselves to God’s people. She has no wants or desires for herself. She is buried next to her husband. She is a figure of God’s love for his people, a love that Judith celebrated in her life. The sacred author concludes with these words: "No one ever again spread terror among the Israelites during the lifetime of Judith, or for a long time after her death" (16:25). Judith neither lived nor died for herself. Everything that she was and did was for her people. This is how it is for the disciples of every age, that is, for all those who vanquish the many idols that continue to enslave people both within themselves and in this world, for those who choose to entrust their life to God’s hands, the only saviour. A maternal dimension manifests itself in the believers who spend their lives for others. This is God’s mission in history, which reveals itself fully in the Church, the body of Christ.
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
