EVERYDAY PRAYER

Prayer for the sick
Word of god every day
Libretto DEL GIORNO
Prayer for the sick


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

Matthew 9, 18-26

While he was speaking to them, suddenly one of the officials came up, who bowed low in front of him and said, 'My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.'

Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him.

Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had been suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak,

for she was thinking, 'If only I can touch his cloak I shall be saved.'

Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, 'Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.' And from that moment the woman was saved.

When Jesus reached the official's house and saw the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion, he said,

'Get out of here; the little girl is not dead; she is asleep.' And they ridiculed him.

But when the people had been turned out he went inside and took her by the hand; and she stood up.

And the news of this spread all round the countryside.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

In a few lines, the evangelist shows us two miracles performed by Jesus: the resurrection of the daughter of one of the Jewish leaders, and the healing of the woman suffering from haemorrhages. We are in Capernaum, and a leader of the synagogue arrives, bows low before Jesus, and pleads: "My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live." He probably knows Jesus well from having seen him at the synagogue, and indeed, he may have even been the one who invited him to speak there. There is no doubt that he knows the goodness and the compassion of this young prophet. In any case, he is the only remaining hope of getting his daughter back. We cannot fail to see in him the torment of so many parents, faced with the death of their own children. His prayer typifies so many desperate prayers spoken because of the premature loss of those who are dearest to us. There is strong faith in this man, however. He believes that Jesus can do anything. This is the faith that Jesus teaches us when he affirms that nothing is impossible for God. The return of this little girl to life is the anticipation of Easter and of the Lord’s definitive victory over death. Jesus listens to this father’s prayer, and he immediately gets up and sets out. Once in the house of the leader of the synagogue, he takes the young girl by the hand, rouses her from the sleep of death, and brings her back to life. Men and women can do nothing when faced with the violent separation of death. Let us entrust to the Lord those who lose their lives while still children or at a young age. Let us learn from the Gospel how to accompany those who suffer the pain of the death of their loved ones so that consoling faith in the Resurrection may grow. On his way to the man’s house - Jesus goes nowhere without leaving his mark - a woman who has been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years thinks it may be enough just to touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak to be healed: a simple trust expressed in an even more simple-looking action, done secretly. Jesus is aware of it, sees her, and says: "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well" (v. 22). Matthew is making the point that it is the word of Jesus linked to the faith of that poor woman that brings about the healing: there is need for a personal relationship between Jesus and that woman and between Jesus and us. We are not in the realm of magic; we are in the context of a relationship of affection and trust with this extraordinary Teacher. And we need to ask ourselves: is not the disciple - is not the Christian community - the fringe of Jesus’ cloak for the many who seek comfort and salvation? Are we truly like that? Are our communities truly like that?

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