EVERYDAY PRAYER

Memory of Jesus crucified
Word of god every day

Memory of Jesus crucified

Memory of Pope Saint Calixtus (+222). He was a friend to the poor and founded the house of prayer on which later would be built the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Read more

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Memory of Jesus crucified

Memory of Pope Saint Calixtus (+222). He was a friend to the poor and founded the house of prayer on which later would be built the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.


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

Luke 12, 1-7

Meanwhile the people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And he began to speak, first of all to his disciples. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees -- their hypocrisy.

Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear.

For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed from the housetops.

'To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, he is the one to fear.

Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God's sight.

Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

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

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Gospel passage once again refers about thousands of people who were gathering around Jesus, so many that they "trampled on one another." They were men and women in need of consolation and in search of a better life. They had finally found a person in whom to confide, on whom to place trust and hope. Their true shepherd had come. Jesus immediately puts them on guard about false shepherds or better, the yeast of hypocrisy which made the guidance of the Pharisees unbearable and dangerous. The Pharisees’ religiosity which Jesus accuses them of was merely external, it did not involve the heart. Such a religiosity contaminates, like bad yeast, the whole of life. But the moment will come -says Jesus—in which all this will come to light and the face and sadness will appear of those who built their own existence with a heart without love and mercy but rather showing their own pride and trying to save themselves. Different, on the other hand, is the condition of the disciples who hear and follow their Teacher: "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more ... fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell." Here Jesus makes a precious distinction. The body can die, but there is an "after." It is on this "after" that the disciple is called to reflect. The "after"--Jesus suggests--is tied to the " heart," that is, the interior life, that " place" where the encounter with God takes place, or-and it would be a dramatic choice—the encounter with the one who can " cast into hell." In Jesus’ words there is no disdain for the body; how many times has he healed! But there is no doubt that the care we have for conversion of the heart is quite little compared with that which we have for our body, for our material well-being. At times for this external well-being we undersell even our soul. Jesus reminds us that the Father who is in heaven takes better care of us than of the birds, and he knows each hair on our head. Let us take care of the heart and of its growth in love.

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