EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day

Memory of the Church

Memory of Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of the Lord who "was waiting for the kingdom of God." Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church

Memory of Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of the Lord who "was waiting for the kingdom of God."


Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Matthew 7, 7-12

'Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.

Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?

Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?

If you, then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

'So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

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

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

After giving us the Our Father, Jesus once again insists on the effectiveness of prayer. He is quite explicit, saying: "Ask, and it will be given you." Jesus knows that it is easy to be sidetracked by doubt and uncertainty. And he urges us not to have any doubts about the Lord and his love. We are his children and, like a Father, he is attentive to our prayer. To help us better understand this teaching, he illustrates it with an easily-understandable image: can a father remain deaf to the pleas of his children? Perhaps because he sees the incredulous faces of his disciples, Jesus repeats himself in order to drive away all uncertainty: "For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds." It is important to note that this conviction is not based on the quality of our prayer (which is obviously necessary), but on the goodness and the limitless mercy of God. Jesus continues to present God as an affectionate father, who obviously can only give good things to his children. Jesus says: if earthly fathers do not give stones instead of bread, how much more will the heavenly Father - who is truly good - take care of and protect his children! The Gospel passage ends with a directive - called the "golden rule" - which is also present in other religious traditions. "In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you." Lived out by Jesus, these words take on the newness of a limitless love: Jesus gave his love and asked for nothing in return. This is the golden rule of daily life.

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