Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Esther 2,5-6.19-23.1-6
Now in the citadel of Susa there lived a Jew called Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,
who had been deported from Jerusalem among the captives taken away with Jeconiah king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
When Esther, like the other girls, had been transferred to the second harem,
she did not divulge her parentage or race, in obedience to the orders of Mordecai, whose instructions she continued to follow as when she had been under his care.
At this time Mordecai was attached to the Chancellery and two malcontents, Bigthan and Teresh, officers in the king's service as Guards of the Threshold, plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
Mordecai came to hear of this and informed Queen Esther, who in turn, on Mordecai's authority, told the king.
The matter was investigated and proved to be true. The two conspirators were sent to the gallows, and the incident was recorded in the Annals, in the royal presence.
Shortly afterwards, King Ahasuerus singled out Haman son of Hammedatha, a native of Agag, for promotion. He raised him in rank, granting him precedence over all his colleagues, the other officers-of-state,
and all the royal officials employed at the Chancellery used to bow low and prostrate themselves whenever Haman appeared -- such was the king's command. Mordecai refused either to bow or to prostrate himself.
'Why do you flout the royal command?' the officials of the Chancellery asked Mordecai.
Day after day they asked him this, but he took no notice of them. In the end they reported the matter to Haman, to see whether Mordecai would persist in his attitude, since he had told them that he was a Jew.
Haman could see for himself that Mordecai did not bow or prostrate himself in his presence; he became furiously angry.
And, on being told what race Mordecai belonged to, he thought it beneath him merely to get rid of Mordecai, but made up his mind to wipe out all the members of Mordecai's race, the Jews, living in Ahasuerus' entire empire.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mordecai is an exiled Jew who "had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away" (1:1a-1c of the Hebrew text). He had held a position in the court of the king, which permitted him to move freely in the palace and be close to Esther. Among other things, he discovers a plot against the king and advises Esther to warn Ahasuerus of the danger. The king immediately intervenes and has the conspirators killed. All of this wins Mordecai the esteem of the king. But there is a high official, Haman, who has the highest position in the court, who soon clashes with Mordecai. This is triggered when Mordecai does not kneel when Haman passes by him. The Jewish faith in the one God did not allow Mordecai to kneel before another man. In truth, with these two men, there emerged an old history of hostility between two peoples, which went back to the time of the Exodus (Ex 17:8-16) and which, having grown in time, culminates in the fight between two kings: Saul of Israel and Agag of Amalek. Mordecai, who had even wanted that Esther say nothing about her ethnicity for prudential motives, on this occasion, declares that as a "Jew" he does not bend the knee before anyone. He thus manifests the purity of the faith in the one Lord. Here already appears the determination of so many believers who do not deviate from their faith. The millions of Christians who in the course of the centuries have put love for God before love for their own lives come to mind. The wrath of Haman, who is struck by pride, explodes in a wholly exaggerated manner: he decides to destroy all the Jews of the kingdom. The logic of love for oneself, if let loose, leads even to apparently impossible decisions. In reality, the force of evil, if not opposed, knows no limits. Haman’s decision, however, clashes with God’s love for his people. And the violence that he wants to concoct against the Jews recoils back on himself, as the psalmist sings: "See how they conceive evil, and are pregnant with mischief, and bring forth lies. They make a pit, digging it out, and fall into the hole that they have made" (Ps 7:14-15).
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
