Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Revelation 11,15-19
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and voices could be heard shouting in heaven, calling, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'
The twenty-four elders, enthroned in the presence of God, prostrated themselves and touched the ground with their foreheads worshipping God
with these words, 'We give thanks to you, Almighty Lord God, He who is, He who was, for assuming your great power and beginning your reign.
The nations were in uproar and now the time has come for your retribution, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants the prophets, for the saints and for those who fear your name, small and great alike, to be rewarded. The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth.'
Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake and violent hail.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
After the long series of events that followed the blowing of the sixth trumpet (9:13-21), the blast of the seventh trumpet now inaugurates the kingdom of the Messiah. The apostle Paul had said: "He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet" (1 Cor 15:25). Jesus has defeated Evil and death. The twenty-four elders return to the stage, that is, all the just ones of the First and New Covenant. In a great liturgy of thanksgiving, they perform the same ritual we celebrate every Sunday; they bow before God and thank him for the salvation he gives to the world. It is the Eucharist, which actually means thanksgiving: "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were." They no longer say "who will be," as we do now, because here we have reached the fullness of time. God appears as judge and saviour, the one who condemns the "those who destroy the earth" and rewards "your servants, the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great." And there suddenly the Ark of the Covenant appears, the "holy of holies" that a cloth curtain hid from the sight of men and women. The ark, which in the temple of Zion was hidden from human sight by a thick cloth, now is visible to be contemplated by the saved. The mystery and the transcendence of God certainly still remain, as affirmed by the chorus of lightning, cries, thunder, earthquakes, and storms that recall the divine epiphanies seen on earth, in particular the epiphany of Sinai (Ex 19:19). The scene also recalls the epiphany of Good Friday when, as Matthew writes: "the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" (27:51-52). Christ has made of his disciples a holy nation and a royal priesthood that has direct access to the Lord of heaven and earth.
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
