EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church


Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I am the good shepherd,
my sheep listen to my voice,
and they become
one flock and one fold.
.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 11,11-15

'In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm. Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading; and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return. Anyone who has ears should listen!

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

On several occasions during the Advent season, the Church points to John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way of the Lord. Jesus never spoke about anyone as much as he spoke about the Baptist. In the verses that precede this passage, Jesus presents John as the prophet who knows how to wait for the Lord and makes him an example for all believers. In effect, with his austere life, the Baptist has prepared himself for his encounter with God; he has not entrenched himself behind easy pride or the expected self-reliance. One could almost say that John did violence to himself in order to cultivate a heart that knew how to wait for the one sent by God. The Baptist became a spiritual man with deep interiority. And this required a struggle with himself, a struggle made of discipline, commitment, perseverance in prayer, detachment from wealth, obedience to the Lord, and a bond between his heart and God. It is this process of "violence" against one’s self that builds up the interior person. Forged by this interior discipline, John was able to recognize Jesus as soon as he saw him approaching by the Jordan. Afterwards, he tried to use his preaching to open a path in the hearts of the men and women of his generation so that they would recognize and welcome the Messiah who was by then present. This is why Jesus can say that John is "the greatest among those born of women," a unique brother sent to us to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus as our saviour. Adding that the least of the kingdom is greater than John, Jesus urges his disciples to discover the greatness of the vocation that has been given to them, even though we often trample it with laziness and meanness. The Lord has placed extraordinary trust in his disciples, enough to make him say, "the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these" (Jn 14:12). What will we do with the great trust that the Lord has put in each of us? This is the question we are invited to ask ourselves as we draw near to Christmas.

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