EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of the Church
Word of god every day

Memory of the Church

Memory of Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of San Salvador. He was killed on March 24, 1980 on the altar. Memory of the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine that took place in Rome in 1944, in which the Nazis killed 335 people. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of the Church

Memory of Oscar Arnulfo Romero, archbishop of San Salvador. He was killed on March 24, 1980 on the altar. Memory of the massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine that took place in Rome in 1944, in which the Nazis killed 335 people.


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

Luke 16, 19-31

'There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day.

And at his gate there used to lie a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores,

who longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man's table. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham's embrace. The rich man also died and was buried.

'In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace.

So he cried out, "Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames."

Abraham said, "My son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony.

But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours."

'So he said, "Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father's house,

since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too."

Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them."

The rich man replied, "Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent."

Then Abraham said to him, "If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead."

 

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

The page of the Gospel on poor Lazarus is one of the best known. It continues to describe one of the most common situations also in life today. The rich man who feasts sumptuously is not relegated to the past, and Lazarus too is not an extinct species. Two persons, two situations. Below, Lazarus, whose eyes are fixed on the rich man waiting for some crumb, and above the rich man, who, on the other hand, does everything as if Lazarus didn’t exist; he doesn’t even see him. He was blinded by riches, a blindness which continues even today in our cities and in our world: a nation of poor people is at the door of the rich, at the threshold of life, waiting for the crumbs which fall from the table of those who banquet sumptuously. Truly that rich man has lost even his face, besides his name. God, on the other hand, chooses Lazarus and calls him by name, as is done with friends, so that, though he is discarded by men, he is loved by God and chosen to participate in the heavenly banquet. For the Lord, and thus for his disciples, the distance between the rich man and Lazarus is an unacceptable scandal and can find no justification. But that great abyss signals the very sad fate which the rich banqueter will meet. Unfortunately he becomes aware of it too late, when it is impossible to overcome it. And yet a little would have been enough during his life. And he asks that his brothers be informed. But the rich man does not know that in order to bridge the gap there is no need for great efforts, it is enough to open the Scriptures (Moses and the Prophets). This is what we are asked particularly in this Lenten time. The Word of God touches our heart and prods it to be merciful towards the many Lazaruses who are in our cities.

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