EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified


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

Revelation 22,1-5

Then the angel showed me the river of life, rising from the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing crystal-clear.

Down the middle of the city street, on either bank of the river were the trees of life, which bear twelve crops of fruit in a year, one in each month, and the leaves of which are the cure for the nations.

The curse of destruction will be abolished. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city; his servants will worship him,

they will see him face to face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

And night will be abolished; they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them. They will reign for ever and ever.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

John then sees the "river of the water of life"; it is the river that was found in Eden (Gn 2:19), the same one Ezekiel saw flowing out of the temple (41:7) and that Zechariah had announced (14:8). Jesus himself had foretold this river when he said to the Samaritan woman: "Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (Jn 4:14). John, who certainly remembers these words of Jesus, now sees the fountain that gushes forth for eternity with his own eyes. In fact, the river of the water of life flowed from the throne of God and the Lamb. The saved are gathered all around to celebrate the perfect liturgy of adoration. Jesus’ beatitude is finally realized: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Mt 5:8). This was the great hope proclaimed both by Paul and by John himself: "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face...we will be like him, for we will see him as he is" (1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2). Consecrated to God forever ("his name will be on their foreheads"), the just stand before God in the joy of a dialogue that nothing will be able to break. John then notices "the tree of life" in the middle of the city. It is the same tree that was an occasion for sin for our progenitors, but now it is a source of life for God’s elect. It is the tree of Christ, his cross, which is no longer a sign of death, but of life. Life is reborn from this tree: Mary and John welcomed each other under the cross. And the apostle remembers this well. There are no more people prevented from entering the new Jerusalem, there are no more separations, there are no walls that divide or barriers that keep people out. God welcomes everyone because God is the Father of all and does not show partiality (Rom 2:11). Revelation helps us look at the history of our time from the point of view of its conclusion, the universal gathering and welcome of the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the dream that God asks all people of good will to make real.

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