EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets
Word of god every day

Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memory of St. Clare of Assisi (1193-1253), disciple of St. Francis on the way of poverty and evangelic simplicity. Muslims start the month of Ramadan.
Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Saints and the Prophets

Memory of St. Clare of Assisi (1193-1253), disciple of St. Francis on the way of poverty and evangelic simplicity. Muslims start the month of Ramadan.


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

Matthew 18,15-20

'If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.

If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: whatever the misdemeanour, the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain the charge.

But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a gentile or a tax collector.

'In truth I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

'In truth I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.

For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel reminds us that fraternal correction and forgiveness require great attention and sensitivity. There is, in fact, a way of not saying things that is not respect, but indifference. Every believer has the duty to correct his brother or sister when he or she makes a mistake, just as everyone has a right to be forgiven. Unfortunately, we live in a society that knows forgiveness less and less, precisely because it does not know the debt of love. The Word of God questions us deeply. In a world that is becoming ever more interdependent but at the same time ever more competitive, we must learn that in order to be truly free and build a worthy society, we have to become slaves in love for another. The utopia of complete respect for the rights of every man and every woman can only become real if everyone takes on one, binding duty: respecting the right of the other to be loved. This right must be woven into the foundation of any human society that would be free from the many external and internal threats. The perfect image of this coexistence is seen in the unity of the disciples who pray together. "Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." These words are very demanding. If the disciples agree to ask for anything, whatever it might be, their agreement constrains God himself to give it to them. God gives enormous power to men and women who are united in one desire. And if this does not happen, we need to question our way of praying, which has perhaps been spoiled by individualism and indifference. If our prayer does not seem to get a response, it may be because we have not questioned ourselves enough about our neighbour, about those in need, and about those who are waiting for someone to remember them.

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