Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Esther 6,1-14; 7,1-10
That night the king could not sleep; he called for the Record Book, or Annals, to be brought and read to him.
They contained an account of how Mordecai had denounced Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs serving as Guards of the Threshold, who had plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
'And what honour and dignity', the king asked, 'was conferred on Mordecai for this?' 'Nothing has been done for him,' the gentlemen-in-waiting replied.
The king then said, 'Who is outside in the antechamber?' Haman had, that very moment, entered the outer antechamber of the private apartments, to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows which he had just put up for the purpose.
So the king's gentlemen-in-waiting replied, 'It is Haman out in the antechamber.' 'Bring him in,' the king said,
and, as soon as Haman came in, went on to ask, 'What is the right way to treat a man whom the king wishes to honour?' 'Whom', thought Haman, 'would the king wish to honour, if not me?'
So he replied, 'If the king wishes to honour someone,
royal robes should be brought from the king's wardrobe, and a horse from the king's stable, sporting a royal diadem on its head.
The robes and horse should be entrusted to one of the noblest of the king's officers-of-state, who should then array the man whom the king wishes to honour and lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him: "This is the way a man shall be treated whom the king wishes to honour." '
'Hurry,' the king said to Haman, 'take the robes and the horse, and do everything you have just said to Mordecai the Jew, who works at the Chancellery. On no account leave out anything that you have mentioned.'
So taking the robes and the horse, Haman arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him: 'This is the way a man shall be treated whom the king wishes to honour.'
After this Mordecai returned to the Chancellery, while Haman went hurrying home in dejection and covering his face.
He told his wife Zeresh and all his friends what had just happened. His wife Zeresh and his friends said, 'You are beginning to fall, and Mordecai to rise; if he is Jewish, you will never get the better of him. With him against you, your fall is certain.'
While they were still talking, the king's officers arrived in a hurry to escort Haman to the banquet that Esther was giving.
The king and Haman went to Queen Esther's banquet,
and this second day, during the banquet, the king again said to Esther, 'Tell me your request, Queen Esther. I grant it to you. Whatever you want; even if it is half my kingdom, it is yours for the asking.'
'If I have found favour in your eyes, O king,' Queen Esther replied, 'and if it please your majesty, grant me my life -- that is my request; and the lives of my people -- that is what I want.
For we have been handed over, my people and I, to destruction, slaughter and annihilation; had we merely been sold as slaves and servant-girls, I should not have said anything; but in the present case, it will be beyond the persecutor's means to make good the loss that the king is about to sustain.'
King Ahasuerus interrupted Queen Esther, 'Who is this man?' he exclaimed. 'Where is the man who has thought of doing such a thing?'
Esther replied, 'The persecutor, the enemy? Why, this wretch Haman!' Haman quaked with terror in the presence of the king and queen.
In a rage the king got up from the banquet and went into the palace garden; while Haman, realising that the king was determined on his ruin, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
When the king came back from the palace garden into the banqueting hall, he found Haman sprawled across the couch where Esther was reclining. 'What!' the king exclaimed. 'Is he going to rape the queen in my own palace?' The words were scarcely out of his mouth than a veil was thrown over Haman's face.
In the royal presence, Harbona, one of the officers, said, 'There is that fifty-cubit gallows, too, which Haman ran up for Mordecai, who spoke up to the king's great advantage. It is all ready at his house.' 'Hang him on it,' said the king.
So Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai, and the king's wrath subsided.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Haman feels proud for having been the sole invitee with the king to Queen Esther’s banquet. His disdain for Mordecai increases even more. He feels sure of having the king’s backing and trusts solely in himself and in his vengeful plans. His wife, Zeresh, a woman different than both queen Vashti and Esther, is bland and unwittingly serves as the accomplice of her husband and his friends. Haman prepares everything for Mordecai’s murder. But "that night the king could not sleep" (6:1). And he asks that the chronicles of the events of the kingdom be read to him. He realizes then that he has failed to reward Mordecai for having disclosed the plot to him. He thus calls Haman and asks him what it would be good to do for a man that the king wants to honour. Haman is so full of himself that he can only think of himself; it does not even cross his mind that the king could be thinking of someone else. He thus tells the king how to honour the man whom the king is thinking about, and he finds that he should render homage to "Mordecai, of the Jewish people." It is the reversal of fortunes: "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted," Scripture often repeats. Haman had thought of himself as master of the events - he believed he could manipulate the king as he wished and he finds himself to be the last of the servants. Pride and hatred have blinded him. Haman, after the homage to Mordecai, takes refuge in his house full of shame and humiliated before his friends, but he must go with the king to Esther’s banquet. The latter, who seems not to know what has happened, speaks openly to the king asking for life for herself and the salvation of her people, not without noting that extermination would have been an economic disadvantage for the king. When the king asks: "Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?" (7:5), the queen replies: Haman. At this point the king is seized by wrath and goes into the garden. Haman, gripped by fear, leans on Esther’s couch to ask her to spare his life, but upon seeing this, the king thinks that he wants to "assault the queen in my presence" (7:8), and he condemns him to the same punishment that he had prepared for Mordecai. Pride and anger lead not to victory but to defeat and death.
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
